Strawberry Arrancar
by Warrior Hal
Summary: What would have happened if instead of becoming a Soul Reaper, Ichigo became something else when Rukia transferred her powers to him? Possibly......an arrancar? Sprung from my obssesion with the arrancar. Ichiruka, other pairings later on,maybe.
1. Chappy 1

Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki isn't exactly your 'normal' teenager. He's been able to see spirits since he was quite young, and one night, because of that, his life will change forever. Though how could a change in the way he received his powers from Rukia change things? Read and find out.

*this fic was sprung from a random idea, bordness, and my unhealthy obsession with arrancar

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach. :(

"It will be temporary. But to defeat the hollow, you must become a Soul Reaper." Rukia Kuchki rasped, and tried to sit up.

"You must take my sword and stab it into the center of your being."

"Then give me that blade, Soul Reaper." Ichigo said, and took the blade, unaware of the hollow's blood dripping off of it.

"My name is Rukia Kuchki." she said, and thought of how much this human was like Kaien. She was unaware of the hollow's blood on her zanpakuto too.

"And my name is," the hollow drew closer "Ichigo Kurosaki." and with that he stabbed the sword into his heart, and a blinding flash lit up the area.

When the light died down, Rukia watched a dead hollow fall to ground. She was still in her Soul Reaper shihakusho and still had her zanpakuto, which meant that she still had her powers.

Rukia looked up, to see Ichigo, but when she saw him, it unnerved her a great deal.

Ichigo wasn't wearing a black shihakusho, but instead a white hakama, with a white jacket with one tail coat (arrancar, Espada uniform, slightly similar to Ulquiorra's) and white sandals and black socks.

Though what scared the Kuchki the most, was the hole in his chest, almost exactly where his heart should be, and the white and blood red mask fragment on his face.

Rukia saw that his outfit was similar, yet the opposite to a Soul Reaper's, and yet he had a zanpakuto, or at least a sword.

She saw the hollow's blood drip from his hand and on to the concrete.

He hadn't used his zanpakuto? Impossible!

Rukia silently debated in her mind on what she should do.

"Hey, Rukia." Ichigo turned around to face her, and shook his hand free of the blood "What now?"

"Huh?" she asked stupidly

"When'll this wear off?" he asked, picking at the mask fragment

"Um…." that was a good question.

"Well, look who it." someone said, and they stepped out of the shadows.

"Urahara." Rukia hissed through her teeth

"Who? Hey, do you know this guy?" Ichigo asked, looking from one Soul Reaper to the other.

"Unfortunately, yes." Rukia growled, glaring at the shop keeper.

"Well, it appears that you can't even walk Rukia-chan, and as for you…" Urahara eyed Ichigo, not with distaste, but almost a strange curiosity "So why don't you" he pointed his fan at Ichigo "get her, and we'll go back to my shop.".

Ichigo walked over to Rukia, and bent down and whispered "Can we trust him?"

"Yeah, we have to-it's not like we've got much of a choice." Rukia sighed, but then let out a surprised squeak when Ichigo picked her up, and carried her bridal-style.

When they finally arrived at the small shop, Rukia glanced at Ichigo.

What was he?

He defiantly wasn't a Soul Reaper, but he couldn't be a hollow…or could he?

Tessai, Urahara's large assistant, relieved Ichigo of Rukia, and started tending to her wounds.

"That's a nasty cut, ." he observed, and applied some alcohol to the wound and cleaned it. Rukia didn't say anything, but just grimaced and nodded.

When he finished tending to her wounds, she limped into a room where Urahara and Ichigo were waiting.

"So, it seems like we have a lot to talk about." Urahara said, hiding behind his fan

"Oh, really? What for example-"

"Ichigo becoming an arrancar."

"What?" both Ichigo and Rukia asked

"An arrancar is a hollow who has removed its mask and gained Soul Reaper powers." Urahara explained

"Wait-so Ichigo is a hollow?!" Rukia asked

"Yep." Urahara

"Do mean that I'm one of those monsters?!" Ichigo asked, sounding a bit scared

"No, technically speaking you are a hollow, but an arrancar is a completely different kind of hollow. You don't have to eat human souls. As a regular hollow, I'd say you're a Menos…at about the level a Vasto Lorde."

"W-WHAT???" Rukia gasped

"A what?" Ichigo asked, still confused

"The most powerful hollow, and the last stage in the evolutionary line of hollows, a Vasto Lorde. They are easily above captain-class level, strong enough that if ten came together, they could bring down the whole of Soul Society. There are very few, and those few exist in the deepest, darkest corners of Hueco Mundo." Urahara explained

"…" both Ichigo and Rukia were silent

"…did you have anything on your blade while transferring your powers?" Urahara asked

"…" Rukia thought back, then remembered the hollows blood on her zanpakuto…

"Well?"

"Um…there…was some…………………………………………hollow's…blood…on my…………………………………………………………………………………zanpakuto." she said nervously.

Urahara nodded "That would explain it."

"Explain what?" Ichigo asked

"How you became an arrancar and not Soul Reaper…."

"Okay, but there _is_ a way to reverse this right?" Ichigo asked nervously

"No. But look on the bright side!" Urahara grinned

"WHAT bright side???" both Ichigo and Rukia asked again

"…"

'_That's a good point…what bright side…it gives people something to read? What the hell? Where did that thought come from?! Um…the bright side is, the bright side is-aha! That's it! Man, I am so clever!'_, Urahara thought, then said

"THAT is something you'll have to find out on your own." Urahara grinned mysteriously from behind his fan, then snapped it shut.

"Well Rukia, since you need to recover I'll get you a gigai, and Ichigo, since your body was destroyed in the blast, I'll get you a gigai too!" and after he gave them their gigais he booted them out in a matter of minutes and bid them goodnight.

"…" Ichigo looked at Rukia, and got in his gigai

"Hey…um…Ichigo?" Rukia asked, already in her gigai. She was wearing a simple white dress, and Ichigo's giga was wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of slightly faded jeans.

"Yeah?" he asked, walking off towards his house. Rukia followed him.

"I think Urahara meant for us to stay together."

"What the hell?"

"I think I should stay at your house."

"Yeah but…where are you gonna sleep? And how am I going to explain it to my family?"

"…You figure that out."

"Wha-First off 'ya crazy midget, you're the one who got me into this me-OW!!!" Ichigo received a comical blow to the head for a glaring Rukia, who wasn't very happy about being called a 'crazy midget'.

She smirked, and ran off towards Ichigo's house, leaving a frustrated, tired, and still somewhat confused arrancar.

Ichigo just rubbed his head and sighed as he jogged after her.

After, how bad could it get?

Okay, that was it for the first chappy! Review or else…no never mind. I was gonna say 'review or else Nnoitra will crawl though your window at night and appear in your bed', but I've already used that so just for the sake of poor Ichigo, review. And yes, it will get bad, especially when the espada come into the story. Yes, they will make an appearance and be part of the story in alter chappies, and this is going to be and Ichiruka fic, so Ichihime fans and Ichinotrukafans you have been warned.

Anyway, review…please?


	2. Chappy 2

I will be answering to my reviews now (or at least try):

-ICHIRUKIFTW-: thanx for the review! and um…about being a vaste lodre…

The Grieving General: Thankx sooo much for the review! And I promise I won't leave Shiro out, though he'll come in a bit later in the story.

KoriChi: Sry for what you saw on my profile, I just put it up in a moment of anger, and since I don't have a myspace or facebook…I don't hate people for liking the pairing, I just hate the pairing itself. And I guess I don't really hate it……I'm just sick of it is all. Sry again for what was on my prof (I should really take that off…) and thanx for the review

anonymous: thanx, I'll update as much as I can, but right now school is a total bitch, and a girl at my school just died…I might go take flowers out to the road where she died and bring a friend……………………………

black sun rising: thanx, and like I said, I'll try to update again, but someone went missing on the first, and hasn't turned up yet…there are flyers up………………

shinigami-merc: thanx!

Grimm the BITCH: thanx. lol, that would be funny.

*I might not be updating for a while because school is taking over my life, I'll be starting my new job, a girl just died from drug-over dose practically in front of my school, and she was a senior there, and another girl just went missing, and hasn't been seen for nearly a month. right now life is a total bitch, but I'll still try to update on my stories as often as I can. I would also like to thank the people who added this to their favorites or alerts or whatever.

**Disclaimer:** Me no own Bleach-only Tite Kubo :(

* * *

When Ichigo finally got back to his house, he saw Rukia there waiting for him.

The arrancar squinted and saw the sky was turning grey-it was almost dawn. How much time did he spend at Urahara's? Damn, the time just flew by.

Ichigo mumbled something about not getting enough sleep, and Rukia just frowned at him

"Stop whining. Suck it up like a man."

"What the-first off, I have to go to school tomorrow-I mean today, and second, it's your fault that I'm an arrancar." he growled

"Yeah, well if you hadn't tried to take the hollow on in the first place, I wouldn't have to transfer my powers to you, so it's your own fault!" Rukia shot back, and Ichigo just glared at her, realizing there was some truth in her words.

He walked over to the place where his house had been destroyed, and was surprised to see it was fixed.

"What the hell happened…?" Ichigo's eyes widened at the sight

"Probably Urahara's work." Rukia explained, and then walked to his door "Coming?"

Ichigo twitched comically and a small vein on his forehead appeared.

"Yes." he growled, and almost kicked open the front door.

They walked up to Ichigo's room, but Ichigo stopped dead when he heard something, and Rukia, who wasn't paying attention and had been walking behind him, crashed into his back.

"What the hell was that f-mfph!!!" the raven haired girl had a hand clap over her mouth, and she glared intensely at Ichigo, with evil intentions of biting off his whole hand, but she stopped when she heard noises.

It sounded like the shuffling of bed slippers.

Ichigo panicked, and then remembered that Yuzu always got up extremely early in the morning to make breakfast and do chores. Some mornings she woke up really early, earlier than usual. Just at the crack of dawn.

And unfortunately for the arrancar and Soul Reaper, this had been one of her 'Extra Early Bird Mornings' or 'EEBM'.

Either, Ichigo knew if he didn't hide Rukia soon, he'd be so screwed. The fuss his father would make about bringing a _girl_ into the house, and at this time of morning…he'd never live it down.

Ichigo picked up Rukia, and practically tossed her into the nearest closet in hallway.

And sure enough, a few minutes later Yuzu came down the hallway, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She was very surprised to see her brother up and awake so early. He usually liked to sleep in.

"I-Ichigo? Is that you?" Yuzu yawned, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes

"Er…."

"Why are you up so early? You weren't trying to sneak out somewhere, were you?"

"Um, no. I…I just, uh, couldn't sleep was all! Yeah, I just couldn't sleep…."

"…Whatever." she yawned, and muttered something about 'insomnia' and 'crazy older brother'. She must be having a bad morning.

Ichigo nervously watched her make her way down the hall and into the kitchen to clean and cook.

It was only when he heard running water and the clanking of dishes, pots, and pans did he open the closet, and let a very angry midget tumble out.

"Never ever do that a-" he clamped his hand over her mouth, and nodded towards the kitchen.

Rukia got the message, but just before he removed his hand from her mouth, she bit down on his hand. Hard.

Ichigo winced as her teeth dug into his flesh and resisted to yelp in pain. He glared at her, only to find a very smug and satisfied smirk on her face.

Once they were safely in Ichigo's room, and the door had been locked, curtains shut tight, and the room had been checked twice for Ichigo's crazy father, they started talking.

Well, Rukia started talking, but Ichigo ignored her, and collapsed on his bed.

"And so the hollows-HEY!!! Are you even listening?!" she kicked him in the side, making him fall off the bed and land hard.

"You know what," Ichigo growled, getting up "you're like a problem that won't go away or leave me alone!"

"And you're an annoying-over sized strawberry!" Rukia snapped back, and the two had a glare off .

In the end, though Ichigo won, Rukia used her trump card and changed her tactic completely.

Puppy dog eyes.

The big, round, too-cute violet eyes you can't resist. You just have to give in, to comply. No matter what, you couldn't turn down the LOOK. That LOOK.

Five minutes later, Ichigo was examining the makeshift bed he had managed to make in his closet. It wasn't very roomy, but for someone of Rukia's size, it could be quite comfortable.

Ichigo grabbed some pillows, and a blanket or two, and arranged her new living space. When he was done, he turned around, only to see Rukia on his bed, fast asleep.

He sighed, but didn't wake her up, and instead picked her up and carried her over to the closet, and set her down.

Then, he collapsed on his own amazingly soft bed, and tried to get a few minutes of sleep at least...he was only resting for a few minutes when-

"GOOOD MOORNING IIICCHHHIGGOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" his crazy father yelled, and somehow, appearing out of nowhere, and tried to land feet first on son.

This proved unsuccessful, and Ichigo caught his insane father, and threw him to the floor.

"Are you crazy?! Attacking your own defenseless son in his sleep?!" Ichigo yelled "What kinda sick twisted guy are you?!"

"You are getting good my son! Soon there will be nothing left to teach you!" Ishinn's muffled voice came from underneath Ichigo's foot.

"Hey, wait, what time is it-OH CRAP!!!" Ichigo looked at the clock. He was going to be so late if he didn't get dressed and leave soon. He'd have to skip breakfast and run to school.

Ichigo practically threw his father out of his room, and got dressed quickly. When he ran downstairs, he saw Karin and Yuzu eating breakfast.

He was about to go out the door when his younger sister stopped him.

"Hey Ichigo, there's this girl outside waiting for you. She says she knows you, and she's wearing a white sundress." Yuzu said

"Is she your girlfriend Nii-san?" Karin teased, and Ichigo turned the color of his namesake

"I-she-we-I HAVE TO GO!!!" he yelled, and ran-no FLEW out the door.

Karin was laughing and Yuzu smiled. And Ishinn just grinned and plotted out all the different ways he could embarrass his son with this new development.

* * *

"Okay, would you explain to me what the hell you were doing standing outside the clinic and waving like that?" a very irritate arrancar asked.

Ichigo was going to be quite late to school because of some nearby hollows.

Rukia and Ichigo were out of their gigais, and searching for the hollow. Though Rukia had yet to fully recover, her wounds were very minor, and she could still fight.

"Well what else was I supposed to do?" Rukia asked, and looked around for the hollow.

Suddenly, it seemed to appear out of nowhere, and lunged at Rukia.

Rukia didn't have time to draw her zanpakuto, or cast a kido spell. Everything seemed to slow down, and she closed her eyes, waiting to be devoured.

After a minute, she opened her eyes a little, and realized that she was still alive, and saw the hollow fade away. Ichigo had once again killed a hollow with his bare hands.

He turned around and asked

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks." she said. If it hadn't been for Ichigo she would have been dead. That was the second time he'd saved her life.

Suddenly, five more hollows appeared from thin air, and the largest one, Rukia could sense this one was the most powerful, laughed.

"So it seems that fool Aizen has another arrancar under his control! It does not matter, for we shall tear him apart, and eat the tasty Soul Reaper." its grin widened, and it licked its lips.

"Charge!" it yelled, and all of them charged at once.

Rukia panicked. Five hollows coming at her all at once…even with her kido, this would be difficult.

But Ichigo just calmly raised his hand, and when they got close enough, he charged a bright red cero in his palm, and fired it at the hollows.

All of them were completely destroyed.

Rukia's eyes widened. Did Ichigo just use a cero?! And what did that hollow mean about Aizen?! Surely he wasn't talking about _Captain _Sosuke Aizen of the fifth division? What did this mean?

* * *

Okay, well I'm gonna end it right there. Sry for it being a little short, maybe boring, but I'm a bit pressed for time, and I have a late English project I haven't even started on. I'll try to make the next chappy better, and sry if ther's spelling or grammar mistakes in the chappy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

________________________

"Where the hell is my sock?" Rukia growled to herself as she searched the poor excuse of a 'bed' she had. Though it was cozy, and not too cramped, so she actually enjoyed it-to a degree. And the position of the closet allowed her to deliver excellent high flying kicks to Ichigo's head if he became too loud in the morning or simply annoyed her.

"Damn that Ichigo! Couldn't he just set aside a space for my stuff in his room? It wouldn't be noticeable if he kept it in a box, it's not like it'd be porn or something." she muttered. After nearly five minutes of searching she finally found it under the white dress her gigai had come in.

"Aha! There it is." she grabbed for it as if it might disappear at any moment, and then held it up as if she had found a large diamond, and not a white sock.

…

Now she just had to find the other one.

__________________

Ichigo was already in his seat when the bell rang. He glanced at the desk next to him, where Rukia usually sat. This wasn't like her; she was almost always on time…

Ichigo didn't pay any attention to what the teacher was saying, but instead, looking out the window. Across from him, a black haired boy with blue eyes and glasses looked scandalized at his lack of attention.

Suddenly the door flew open, and standing there, was none other than the midget herself.

'_It's about time! What the hell took her so long?_' Ichigo thought, irritated

"Ms. Kuchiki? You're quite late, I hope you know." the teacher frowned at her

"I-I-I'm s-so s-s-sor-sorry. I-I w-was a-at-attacked on m-my way t-to school, a-and n-no one b-bothered t-to h-help m-me." she sobbed, pulling out a white handkerchief and dabbing her eyes with it.

'_Oh please, it looks more like she just tripped._' Ichigo thought as he rolled his eyes, then a picture of Rukia fighting three hollows by herself came to mind. Was that what had caused her to be late? She wasn't injured, was she?

As he thought these things, his internal organs seemed to tie themselves into a knot.

He then had a very clear, vivid flashback of her falling to the ground, covered in her own blood. The knot tightened.

As she took her seat, he resolved to ask her if she was alright and what had happened, at lunch.

The class sat through another half hour of an intensely boring lecture on advanced algebra and took notes on different equations. When the lunch bell rang, there were many sighs of relief and nearly the whole class tried to squeeze out through the door at once.

"Hey Rukia…you weren't attacked by _hollows_, were you?" Ichigo asked "You're not hurt, right? Are you okay-" thankfully the teacher had her back turned when Rukia whipped out her sketch book and beat Ichigo with it. Amazingly, the teacher left seconds later and completely ignored Rukia and Ichigo.

"YOU IDIOT!!! OF COURSE I WASN'T ATTACKED BY HOLLOWS!!! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I'M FINE!!!" she yelled as she continued to beat him with the sketch book

"Ouch! AH! Cut it out!" Ichigo backed away, making sure he was out of sketch-book-range "I was only asking! And if you weren't attacked, then what the hell took you so long?"

"I was looking for my socks!" she shouted

"It can't take you that long to find your socks! I mean, I know your bed is like a rat's nest but-AHHH!" he never got a chance to finish, because Rukia threw her sketch book at him, which hit its mark and then returned to her like a boomerang.

"My socks weren't the only thing I had trouble with. I had to go get something for you. Catch." Rukia threw something to Ichigo, which looked like a candy dispenser. He caught it with his free hand as the other rubbed his head where the sketch book hit him.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, turning it over in his hands "'Soul Candy'? What's that?"

Rukia rolled her eyes "Just take one."

Ichigo looked at the Soul Candy doubtfully for a moment, then popped one in his mouth and swallowed. He didn't feel any different, but nearly a second later, he felt the familiar sensation of being pushed out of his gigai.

He looked down at his gigai, which was slumped over a desk, motionless. Then it began to stir.

"Hello, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Early to bed, early to rise, that's my motto." his gigai said, whilst wearing an expression of idiotic and vague happiness. He smiled stupidly and had a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Rukia…what. The. Hell. Is. THAT?!" Ichigo twitched, looking at whatever was in his gigai with a horrified expression

"It's a temporary soul that will inhabit your gigai while you fight hollows. This way, people around you won't have t worry about where you've gone off to." Rukia explained patiently "Besides, I've got my own Soul Candy." she held up a candy dispenser similar to Ichigo's, only Ichigo's had been a duck and hers was a-

"Rabbit?" Ichigo raised one orange eyebrow

"It's Chappy the rabbit, and for your information, Chappy is the most popular Soul Candy in the Soul Society!" she huffed

"…I'm guessing it's 'the most popular Soul Candy' among female shinigami, right? I really can't see a guy walking around with that-"

"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!" in her other hand, she held out the sketch book quite menacingly

"What? N-NO! I-I was just asking is all!" Ichigo said hastily, not wanting to endure another hit from the sketch book

"Hmph." she put down the sketch book, but at that moment, her cellphone went off.

"Okay, this is a chance for the temporary souls to get to know our schedule." Rukia said as she popped a pill into her mouth, and then swallowed.

Ichigo watched as her gigai got up, and Rukia herself walked towards the open window by the teacher's desk. She smirked at him, and he could see a playful, bright look in her violet-blue eyes.

"Coming?" she asked, before jumping out the window

Ichigo looked over at their gigai's, which were just walking out the door, then back to the window that Rukia had jumped out of. Smirking himself, he answered, not so much as to Rukia, but more to himself.

"Yeah."

_______________________

Okay, so I've decided that it's official-I have a writer's block that I can't get rid of. Originally I planned on putting this in a side story to fill in the gaps, but I'll just go back and delete everything from chapter two or something and up, then replace it with the stuff that's happening over the first few months like training, bonding, making friends, and whatever else they'll do before Soul Society comes for Rukia. Also, while I'm writing these chapters, I'll go back and edit my chapters like in the battle scenes and hopefully make them better(?). Nothing to important should happen, though hopefully these little chapters will keep you amused, and if you like the Arrancars then go read Memories in the Sand, because _that's_ the side story for this one. Anything else I'm forgetting? Probably but if I'm missing it just PM me or leave it in a review…and review are greatly appreciated! And to make it up to you, I've got a closing poem!~

There once was a reader named Orange~

But because she didn't review, she hit her head on a door hinge~

And that caused her get a bump on her head~

And that lump~~

Swelled and burst with tremendous force and splattered her brains against the wall~


	4. Chappy 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

_________________________

'_Ichigo…where are you going? What is that white outfit you're wearing, and why is there a black hole in your chest?_' Orihime thought as she watched Ichigo and Rukia dash away from the school. Orihime walked over to the open window which Ichigo had jumped out moments before she entered the classroom and saw another Ichigo and Rukia wearing school uniforms leave as if nothing unusual had happened.

"That new girl…she's wearing a black robe…and she has a sword." Orihime watched them until they disappeared out of her line of sight, but even after she still stood by the window watching the trees they had vanished behind.

Suddenly Orihime felt the fine hairs on her neck stand up straight, and she turned around to come face to face with-

"Uryu." she said softly

"Hm. So that Ichigo Kurosaki has some strange hollow-like power…almost as if he was a hollow himself. And of course there's that accursed shinigami by his side." Uryu said with disdain, completely ignoring the presence of the orange haired girl next to him. Uryu then turned on his heel and walked out of the classroom, moving with purpose as if determined to show both arrancar and shinigami who was better.

Orihime, who had been watching and listening to Uryu, resolved to follow him and find out what was going on.

_________________________

**Orihime's POV **

I tried to think of all the logical possibilities that could explain what was happening now. Like maybe Rukia was an alien and she had made Ichigo her pet and Uryu was a space cowboy with a bubble beam gun and he was going to save Ichigo. Or maybe Ichigo was a super-hero and Rukia was his side-kick, and Uryu was secretly Ichigo's loyal steed, Bingo. Or maybe Rukia and Ichigo were scientists who were planning to take over the world and Uryu was trying to stop them with a slice of cake, toothpaste, and-

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading to the ground floor and outside of the school building. I then realized that the person I had been following, Uryu Ishida, had slipped away.

"Oh…oops." I cringed slightly. Had Uryu known I was following him? Did I start yelling like Tatsuki said I did every time I spaced out and got distracted? Oh no…now I'll never find out what happened to Ichigo and Rukia…

I heard a shuffling noise behind me. I turned around but saw no one there. Was I hearing things?

"Hey Orihime!" someone yelled in a sing song voice, then I was embraced from behind and my breasts were squeezed slightly. I could only think of one person who would want to do this…

"Ch-Chizuru?" I gasped. She was starting to suffocate me with her hug.

"That's right 'Hime! I saw you walking out of class following Uryu because I needed some help on a sewing project-and what do ya know! I see you coming out after him the next second! Can you believe my luck?!" Chizuru giggled, but then her grip suddenly slackened and she let go of me altogether.

"Yeah, well your _luck_ has just run out." an all too familiar voice said from behind me and I turned around to see Tatsuki standing there, looking down at Chizuru who was by my feet on the floor. Suddenly she got up.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?!" she yelled

"It was for acting like an idiot, idiot!" Tatsuki yelled back "And if you touch her again like that I promise you there's more where that came from!"

"You're all brawns but no body, Tatsuki! Your just jealous of the relationship Orihime and I share." the red headed girl sniffed

"WHAT RELATIONSHIP???"

Chizuru opened her mouth to reply, but then we all heard a horrible, high-pitched scream. I couldn't help but flinch.

"W-What was that?!" Chizuru breathed, as her eyes widened

"I don't know but let's go check to see whoever it is will be okay." Tatsuki said sounding a bit unnerved herself.

Chizuru pushed open the door, revealing a bright sunny day, but on the ground were many shards of broken glass. I looked up at the building surrounding us on both sides, and saw that nearly all the windows were shattered.

"Oh wow, what could have caused all this?" Chizuru wondered aloud, but Tatsuki was already running over to a girl amid the glass shards. I could only watch nervously with Chizuru as my best friend carefully picked her way around the shards, and finally reached the girl lying on the ground.

Tatsuki knelt down by her side, and carefully checked her to make sure that she wasn't bleeding. The girl opened her eyes right when Tatsuki put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey were you the girl who screamed? You're not hurt are you-"

"I'm fine." she said monotonously, getting up and brushing herself off "I fell is all." then she shuffled off.

"Hey wait! Come back, you-"

"Tatsuki." someone said her name, and she turned around to face the senior math teacher, Mr. Akuma "You and your-"jerked slightly, and spittle came flying out of his mouth. Tatsuki winced as some of it hit her face.

"You and your friends-"he pointed at Chizuru and I "clean…up this mess."

"Hey, that's not fair though!" Chizuru shouted, but Mr. Akuma just wagged a finger in our direction

"No buts or its detention, you." then he shuffled off after that, us alone in an empty corridor with a dead end.

Chizuru pouted and stomped her foot "Man we should have never come out here to see what was wrong! And that girl was such a bi-"

"Come on, let's get the brooms." Tatsuki sighed, cutting Chizuru off before she could finish the rest of her sentence. I watched as Tatsuki walked over to a small door to our right, opened it up, and found some janitorial supplies, including brooms and dust pans.

"Here." she handed both of us a broom and a dust pan, then grabbed her own pair. Afterwards, we set out to work on the mess. Several times I head Chizuru cursing aloud and Tatsuki asking her if she was okay. Chizuru had cut her hands nearly three times, leaving small droplets of blood where ever she worked. I wished that I had healing powers so that I could help her…

But aside from that it was quiet all except for the tinkling sound of glass being swept up and the shuffling of our shoes as we moved from one area to the next.

As it grew quiet, I found myself thinking more and more about Ichigo and Rukia dashing off, wondering where they had gone and what they were doing. Then my mind started to drift to Uryu and what he would do when he finally caught up with them.

Just as I bent over a particularly large piece of glass, I brushed a few strands of hair from my face and looked at my own image looking up at me. I blinked as the light shined unexpectedly bright for a second, near blinding me as I moved my head.

But that was when I saw _it_.

_It_ was a monster with long flowing tentacles and not much of a body. It was purple in color all except for the terrible mask that was where its face should've been, and the terrible black and yellow eyes that seemed to burn into my soul even though they were barely reflected on the glass.

My first reaction would have been to gasp and whirl around, seeing if it was really there or not. But then I thought '_Wait._'.

'_What if when this thing knows that I can see it, it will attack us? Maybe…maybe if I can just pretend it's not there and get the others to my place, it won't bother us. But I have to appear calm about it, or else that monster might try to stop us. Even so, it might still try to stop us…but even so I have to try. I can't let the others get hurt by this thing, no matter what_.'

I dropped my dust pan and broom, and then carefully lifted the large piece of glass up above my head. As I lifted it, I saw that the monster _was_ there, and that it wasn't just some trick of the light or my imagination. I forced myself to not let my eyes stop, even for a second, on the creature, and then I forced a smile.

"Hey look at this big piece of glass! It's not completely shattered like the others. Maybe it could be refitted." I looked over at them, then at the sky, trying to act casual.

"Oh wow! Look at the time!"

"Hm? What is it, Orihime?" Chizuru asked looking up from her work

"I just remembered that there's this new TV show and there's a new episode that I don't want to miss." I dropped the glass at my feet, and then dragged Tatsuki and Chizuru with me towards the entrance to the school.

"We better hurry up or we might miss it! Oh, and I can make us all a fresh batch of curry popcorn with caramel topping." I made my fake, forced smile widen. It was as if every cell in body were tingling, telling me to get away from here, and that we were all in terrible danger. That's why we had to get away…before it attacked.

"Hey, Orihime, I have to get my Biology book." she checked her wristwatch "Since schools out I have to grab it before they lock up the doors-" she stopped when she saw the sudden, desperate look on my face "But hey, don't worry. I'll catch up with you guys later." she pulled free of my grip and started to run back to the school.

"Tatsuki! Wait, come back! No don't-"I stopped when it suddenly felt as if I had been plunged into a tub of freezing water. A loud thumping pulse beat loudly in both my ears, momentarily drowning out all other sound. I turned around slowly, horrified of what I would see. When I had turned both my body and head around, I saw nothing-until I looked up.

"So you can see me, can't you?" the creature asked, sounding slightly amused. For a second, I couldn't speak or think as a kind of raw panic over took me. But Chizuru's voice cut through my panic, helping me clear my mind for a second.

"Orihime, what's wrong? Hey, what are you looking at?" she asked, staring at the spot I was looking at. She couldn't see it, but that didn't mean it wouldn't attack her…

"Run, now."

"Wha-"

"You have got to run Chizuru!" I yelled, but the creature apparently had other ideas

"I'm not letting you get away that easily!" it growled, and I watched as small parts of its mask bulged, then shot out and came down upon us like a shower of bullets.

This time I screamed. I screamed and closed my eyes, willing this thing to go away and to leave us all alone. But of course that didn't happen-things didn't work that way.

"What's wrong?!" Chizuru yelped, then "What's going on-AHHH!!!" I opened my eyes as she fell backwards, hit by one of those pod things from the monster's head.

"Ch-CHIZURU!" I ran over to her, tears blurring my vision. Chizuru looked up at me as I knelt by her side.

"What's this? Tears?" she smiled "Everyone knows you're cute, Orihime, even when you're crying, but I like it better when you smile." she got up and I stood up too, sniffling. She rolled her arm around a bit and tested it out.

"But are you sure you're alright?" I asked, completely forgetting to monster's presence

"Yeah, don't worry about me." she smiled at me reassuringly, but not even a second later, she grabbed my wrist. Her grip tightened painfully, and for a second I thought she might break my wrist.

"Chizuru, stop, you're hurting me…" I winced as instead of her grip loosening, it tightened. I looked back at the creature which floated menacingly above us, as if enjoying our pain and fear.

"What have you done to Chizuru?!" I yelled at it, trying to tug my wrist out of Chizuru's grip.

"Orihime…what's going on? I can't control my arm!" she tried to use her other hand to free me, but she couldn't.

The creature above us laughed "You see, I don't like fighting…so instead I use seeds from my head to control others and make you _humans_ fight amongst yourselves." as it spoke I turned my head and saw students, maybe more than fifty all coming towards us with a dead, zombie-ish look in their eyes.

"N-No!" I closed my eyes hard and wished even more that this was just a bad dream, that I would wake up and have pancakes rolls dipped in tomato soup for breakfast and go to school and see Tatsuki and Chizuru and it would be alright-

"WHAT." **THUD**

"THE HELL." **THUD**

"DO YOU PEOPLE."** CRACK**

"THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!?!?!" this time I heard something which sounded like bones cracking or being snapped. I opened my eyes to see Tatsuki fighting her way through the crowd of zombie students, looking extremely mad. Unfortunately for the zombie students, she was a pro at karate, and they stood no chance against her.

"Hey you, ya great big blob! Are you the thing that made Orihime cry?" Tatsuki looked at the creature, which stared back down at her with a mix of disgust and amusement.

"Tatsuki, can you see it too?" I asked. It had attacked Chizuru even though she couldn't see it…though where was Chizuru? She had let go of my arm but I didn't see her…

"No, but I can sense it, and I know exactly where it is." she glared at the spot where the monster floated, then "Isn't there a single one of you who can take me on?" she glanced at the yard filled with unconscious zombie students.

I gasped as Tatsuki whirled around when someone put a hand on her shoulder. It was-

"Chizuru?!" Tatsuki's eyes widened as tears filled up the redheaded girl's eyes

"Look." she whispered. The veins in her arms seemed to pop out and slowly crept up her neck then a small part of her face "What's happening to me?"

"You stupid human. If you think you could defeat me…" I saw the seeds in its forehead bulging, ready to shoot out.

"Tatsuki, ru-mmph!" I started to shout, but a zombie student grabbed me from behind and cupped his hand over my mouth

"Then you're WRONG!!!" the seeds shot out, and hit Chizuru five or six times. She fell to the ground and didn't get up. Tatsuki was hit on the shoulder like Chizuru. She fell back to, but a moment later, she struggled to get up.

"Oh, and this is just a _taste_ of my power. Shall I show you the full extent of-"the creature floated close to Tatsuki, right next to her but Tatsuki wasn't listening to what it was saying

"Shutup."

"What?"

"I said shutup. You made Orihime cry…and now you'll pay." Tatsuki lunged at it, and sank her teeth into one of its tentacles

The creature howled in pain.

"AAHHHH!!! NO, YOU'RE NOT WORTH CONTROLLING!!! GET OFF, I SAID _GET OFF_." the monster whacked Tatsuki with its tentacles, but then I saw the seeds in its head bulging again. Maybe because it was in so much pain, that its control lessened over the student holding me that I was able to break free. Or maybe because I kicked the student in the shins. Either way I ran to Tatsuki, but I was too late.

Only one seed hit her, but I was almost sure it hit her heart. No, I _was_ sure that it hit her heart, because I felt it to.

"N-No…don't cry Orihime…don't…c-cry." she whispered before she hit the ground and fell next to Chizuru.

"TATSUKI!!!" I screamed, and ran faster than I had ever run in my life. Just as I was a few feet from her, she came back up again, and her right leg struck out. Her kick hit me right in the stomach and winded me so bad that I fell to my hands and knees, coughing and gasping.

I looked up hopefully, hoping that maybe she would be able to fight it, the control of that creature. But when I looked up, I saw that she had the same dead look in her eyes and a slightly zombie-like expression.

'_Before Sora died, I grew my hair out long. I remember Sora always telling me how he loved my long hair. But then, when I went to school, my hair color got everyone's attention, including the bullies. They cut my hair and after Sora asked me what I did to my hair, and I lied to him because I didn't want him to worry. He died soon after that, and I was all alone. But then Tatsuki came along…you made me happy, and the loneliness went away. Because of you, I was able to grow my hair long again, and my long hair is a symbol of our friendship…so thank you, Tatsuki. Thank you for protecting me the best you could, and standing up to that thing._'

"But I'll protect you this time. So don't cry, Tatsuki, don't cry." I whispered, hugging her

"O-Or-Ori-h-hi-me" she choked out, then her body went limp against mine. I felt anger that this thing had hurt her like this and a strong desire to protect her from anymore harm.

At that moment, it felt like my body had been engulfed in flames. I wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but suddenly I felt stronger and more confident like I could drive this thing away.

"I don't think you know this," I said to the thing as the whirlwind of dust that had somehow appeared started to clear away "I don't think you're aware that anyone who messes with my friends will have to answer to me!"

"What?! These strange powers you're using…but how?!" the creature snarled, backing up a bit. All of the students it was controlling had been blown away, and it seemed that it didn't want to try to shoot me yet.

It was then that I realized that there were small paper planes flying around me.

"Huh? What…who are you?" I asked, and a voice answered

"Oh come on, don't you know who we are?"

"I'm sure she knows, we have always been the ones closest to her, haven't we?" the one that was speaking landed on my shoulder, and unfolded revealing a very small person with wings coming out of her back. She was wearing black tights and a red Chinese style top with long sleeves.

"Hello Orihime, we are the Shun Shun Rikka, your six princess shielding flowers." the blond fairy said, smiling at me. The other five planes also unfolded in mid-air, revealing small eccentric looking fairies.

"Why are there a bunch of little fairies flying around and talking to me?" I asked, absolutely confused

"Well, that was some reaction, but to be exact, we're not fairies. We're the power from inside your soul and we are all part of you, but only you are able to see us. Well, uh, maybe people like Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki can see us. It's because of the reiatsu they've been letting out when their around that we were 'born'." she put air quotes around her last words "And you see-"

Suddenly another fairy flew at her, nearly knocking her out of the air. This one was wearing a tight black uniform with some red and had equally black wings with some red on them too. He had a few scars on his face, but from the nose down his face was covered with a white cloth.

"Okay, now listen up. You don't have to know who we are or where we came from, but you just need to know how to use us."

"Use you?" I asked, frowning slightly. This fairy was quite bossy and aggressive, especially for someone so tiny.

"Yeah, that's what I just said." it snapped

"You know, you pretty bossy for someone who's so small." I said

"Oh haha, real funny! Now just shutup and learn how to use us!"

"Wha-"

"We can create a shield to deflect spirit attacks." said the fairy with an eye-patch

"To activate this shield you must use your heart and our Kotodama."

"K-Kotodama?" I asked, even more confused than before.

"It's coming." the black bossy fairy said, turning to where the monster was. It landed on the ground with a thump and leered at me menacingly.

"What have you been doing over there, mumbling to yourself? It doesn't matter though, because soon you'll be under my control!" the seeds from its head started to bulge again.

"Quick! Our Kotodama is a spirit's chant. You must say our names then use our Kotodama-Santen Kesshun." the biggest fairy said, and then flew around nervously. I was hopelessly lost and scared. This was too much for me to handle…

"Stay calm." the blond fairy came back up to my shoulder level "Now repeat after me." I glanced back at the monster, and the seeds were getting ready to shoot.

"Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily." she saw my fear and hesitation "Hurry!"

"Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily!" I shouted and the blond fairy then said "Santen Kesshun, I reject!"

"Santen Kesshun!" the seeds fired "Santen Kesshun, I reject!" the three fairies formed a triangular shield that protected me just as the seeds exploded against the surface of it. The shield was an orange color, like my hair.

"WHAT???" the monster's eyes widened "But how?!"

"Huh?" I asked, feeling almost as confused as the monster.

The blond fairy flew over to my shoulder "They can form a shield of reiatsu that rejects any attacks from the enemy. By calling upon their power you can create a barrier between you and the enemy." she explained, and then flew over to where Tatsuki and Chizuru lay, unconscious and unmoving.

"You see, we are able to make a shield, and reject what is within that shield thus returning whatever is within that defined space back to the way it was before it was damaged." she said, and then "My name is Shuno."

A shy looking female spirit in a pink dress came up beside her and said "My name Ayame. And our Kotodama is Soten Kishun."

I looked at Tatsuki and Chizuru for a moment before nodding. This time I felt a bit more confident about using their powers, but I was starting to feel just a little tired…

"Shuno, Ayame! Soten Kishun, Soten Kishun, I reject!" the two fairies formed a glowing half oval barrier around my friends, and I watched as their wounds closed up as if they had never been hurt.

"Chizuru…Tatsuki…" I put my hand over my mouth as tears blurred my vision again, but this time they were tears of happiness.

"Okay, woman! This is no time for tears because I'm up next. I can project a shield on both sides and fly at the enemy, thus blowing a hole in them or splitting them in half. My name is Tsubaki, and my Kotodama is Koten Zanshun!" he folded up and began to fly at the creature. I gulped, remembering how that thing had hurt Tatsuki.

"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun, I reject!" I yelled, and focused on that thing being split in half.

Tsubaki glowed bright orange and flew faster at the thing. The thing's eyes widened but it didn't have time to dodge or it was to slow because not even seconds later Tsubaki cut clean through it, and with a terrible scream it dissolved into nothingness.

After that I started to feel even more tired. I guess I must have fainted because after I mumbled "I…did…it.", the ground rushed up at me and darkness surrounded me.

**end Orihime's POV**

__________________________

Uryu Ishida stepped out of the shadows just as Orihime Inoue's hairpins fell to the ground next to her, like snowflakes. He walked over to where she lay, and knelt down beside her unconscious form.

"That was some fight you put up, Orihime. Though this is partly my fault since I knew you could see Ichigo and Rukia. I knew that meant that you could see spirits too, but I didn't think much of it because I _thought_ you'd go home and be safe there. I had no idea that so many others would get caught up in this." he paused and looked around the yard at all the unconscious students, then at Tatsuki and Chizuru.

"I regret going after Ichigo and Rukia…because I left you alone and you could have been killed, or worse. And that Ichigo Kurosaki _is_ some kind of hollow after all, and the stupid shinigami…" Uryu shivered, not because she had been frightening, but because he still some ice stuck to his shoulder. Her brushed it off, annoyed, but then continued.

"Though you have some interesting powers Orihime. I was about to step in, but then after the dust cleared, I realized that you might have some spiritual powers of your own." he put her hairpins back in her orange hair "And I was right. You fought amazingly for a human who had no idea what was really going on, or even what a hollow was, but you followed your instincts and won in the end. Even though it was just a lowly, common hollow, not even of Gillian class…you did well." he smiled at the girl, then sighed and shook his head, muttering to himself "Look at me, I'm talking to someone who can't even hear me."

He picked Orihime up, and carried her away bridal-style.

"Tatsuki and Chizuru will be fine and the others will be bruised up a little, but," he looked down at the girl in his arms "more hollows will come after you, especially because of your increased reiatsu. And I don't think you can take any more hollows on, not yet." he smiled at her again, and then walked towards the school gate, in the direction of his house.

"It's a good thing I sensed the hollow and came back to see if you were alright." he looked back up at the sky, and the sun which was gradually sinking lower and lower in the great blue expanse.

"The power of rejection…" the Quincy mused "You really are something else, aren't you, Orihime Inoue?"

_______________________

WOW! this was so much longer than I intended an sorry if Orihime seems OOC but I did my best! yeah, I know most of u will probably b a bit disappointed that I spent this much time on her an stuff…but oh well! as u can tell, a lot of these scenes r from Bleach 13, but I did some tweaking to the episode/ what happened/ dialogue and stuff, especially the ending. and as you can tell(or maybe u cant) Uryu had a little brush with Rukia and Ichigo that didn't go so well…I'm planning on getting to that in the next chapter, but we'll see…so yeah, that's it. AND IF YOU DON'T REVIEW NUMB CHANDELIER WILL COME AFTER YOU AND EAT YOUR SOUL!!!(I think that's the name of the hollow that attacked them-the big purple octopus thing and I was too lazy to do an ending poem)


	5. Chappy 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

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Rukia resisted the urge to curse under her breath. She found it highly annoying that Ichigo was faster than her, _way_ faster, though that really didn't annoy her as much as his words.

"_Do you need a piggy back ride? Because you're kind of…really slow."_

How dare he insult her shunpo! It was much better than whatever _he_ was using. Shinigami were superior to hollows…

'_Why am I thinking like this? Ichigo is my partner and we're killing hollows together. I shouldn't be thinking about how shinigami are superior to hollows-Ichigo has saved my life at least more than once, hasn't he? Besides…I _do_ owe him one for opening my juice box.'_ she thought as she shunpoed faster.

Rukia glanced over at the arrancar by her side. She wondered what kind of technique he was using to keep up with her shunpo.

'_I guess hollows have their own form of shunpo, because I know what Ichigo is using isn't shunpo-it's something else._'

"Hey Ichigo, is the hollow close by?" Rukia asked. She had come to find, after defeating the last hollow, that Ichigo's senses were better at detecting hollows than even her cellphone.

"It's up ahead just a little ways, though…" he trailed off

"Though what?" she asked, feeling worried

"Well…it's just that this hollow's reiatsu levels are way different from the other ones we've been fighting before. I may not have as much experience as you, but" he glanced at her "this hollow is way more powerful than all the others. I can tell."

Rukia couldn't think of any reply to his statement, but just increased her speed again. While she was proficient in shunpo to a somewhat above-standard-degree, her best advantage when it came to using shunpo was not her speed itself, but her flexibility. While she was slightly vertically challenged (Ichigo was always saying that she's using a fancy word for 'midget' and 'that there's no slightly about it' but this was coming from Mr. 5'9) it made her harder to hit, and her _slightly_ smaller size gave her an advantage of speed over most opponents.

Ichigo suddenly stopped, and turned to face her. Rukia frowned as she looked at Ichigo, who didn't seem to be looking at her. Well, he was staring straight ahead so there was no way he could be looking at her.

"Ichigo, what are you looking at?" she asked, and looked behind her at a cluster of trees. They were in a park area, with a bench and a drinking fountain. Aside from the dense cluster of trees and the cement paths that stretched out to the north, east, south and west, there wasn't anything there.

Ichigo suddenly put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. He looked down at her and said "It's nothing, forget it.".

Rukia frowned slightly, but then she felt something hot at the back of her head, as if someone were holding a piece of heated metal close to her head. The heat disappeared almost as quickly as it started, and she twisted her head around to see a hollow fall out of a patch of trees, but it didn't look like a regular hollow. Its features were somewhat more defined…and somehow unique.

The she finally understood what was going on when she felt its spiritual pressure. Why Ichigo said it felt different, because this hollow was of Menos Grande class. Its spiritual pressure was like no other's she felt, which meant that this hollow wasn't even a Gillian, it was an-

"Adjuchas." she breathed.

She watched it carefully as it started to get up, cursing Ichigo.

"_You half-bred mongrel! Using the shinigami as bait was clever, but you only got a lucky shot in with that damn cero of yours!"_ it growled in its horribly twisted and warped voice.

Her hand was already on the hilt of her zanpakuto when she took her eyes off the hollow and looked at Ichigo. Was the hollow telling the truth? Had Ichigo only used her as bait? Was that how much she was to him, just a piece of juicy bait for hollows?

The hollow started to get up, but faster than she could even blink, Ichigo had pounced on it and was now tearing off great chunks of its flesh with his teeth and hands.

The hollow writhed and screamed a wordless cry before falling back to the ground. It bucked and squirmed under Ichigo grasp, but Ichigo was too strong for it. Ichigo bit its neck after a few minutes, sinking his teeth into the hollow's purple skin whilst thick streams of red flowed down either side of its neck. It struggled for a few more moments before gasping and flailing one last time, and then hitting the ground with a dull thud. Ichigo continued his feast of hollow flesh.

Rukia felt as if she had witnessed something she would see on the channel 'Animal Planet'. Only this was ten times more disgusting and gruesome, mainly because it was _Ichigo_ who was the animal, ripping apart the other animal.

Rukia sank down to the ground, and brought her knees up to her chest as she watched with a sort of twisted fascination with the way Ichigo pulled the hollow apart and ate it. The more she thought about the fact that Ichigo was eating another hollow…started to distress her.

She let out a few involuntary waves of reiatsu, and as a result of her highly elemental reiatsu…

Ichigo looked up from his meal as he felt something small and cold fall on his face. It melted on his warm but iron tough skin, and slid down his cheek like a tear. He looked up, towards the sky and noticed that there were gray clouds covering up the sun, and falling from those cement colored clouds were specks of white-snow.

'_What the-it's a beautiful day in mid-May, and it's SNOWING???'_ the arrancar thought while blinking stupidly at the sky. Ichigo was paying so much attention to the sky that he didn't even notice the arrival of a new reiatsu signature, not until a bright burst of light flashed by him and hit something next to him.

He looked down and saw that his meal was dissolving like sand. He let out a growl and turned to the direction the flash of blue light had come from, only to see a teen about his age with black hair and deep blue eyes. Ichigo stopped at the eyes. They weren't like Rukia's, never deciding whether they wanted to be blue, violet, or even gray, but always alternating in the light and reflected on her emotions. This teen's eyes were cold, calculating, and sharp, like needles of reiatsu.

"Who are you?" Ichigo half-growled, getting up.

"I could ask you the same thing, though perhaps it might suit you better if I asked _what_, are you." he sneered, looking down at Ichigo from the stone steps that led up another path, father away from the heart of the park.

"I don't think that's any of your business." Ichigo snapped, tensing

"I think it is, considering the fact that _I'm_ a Quincy and _you're_ some kind of…hollow." he said the word 'hollow' with the air of one talking about an illness or some kind of horrible STD.

"So what if I'm part hollow? And why the hell did you destroy my meal?" he demanded, patience growing thinner

"If there's anything that even resembles a hollow, I'll destroy it. And your _meal_ was a hollow, regardless if it was dead or not." the Quincy said almost matter-of-factly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The Quincy then turned to Rukia before Ichigo could even open his mouth to reply.

"And I see you've got a disgusting shinigami by your side. I guess this one must've been quite desperate for company if she came crawling to a _hollow_." the Quincy said, glaring at Rukia.

"SHUTUP!!! Don't you dare talk to Rukia like that!" Ichigo snarled, then leapt at the dark haired teen, who merely stepped to the side while Ichigo flew past him and into a cluster of trees. Seconds later there was a huge crashing sound.

"Really, Ichigo Kurosaki, I can read your moves easily." the Quincy laughed softly "You're just a lowly hollow, a freak even among your own kind. You can't find anyone else who will care for your existence but a lone, unseated, stupid shinigami-"

"Shutup."

The Quincy's head snapped in the direction of the sound. His eyes narrowed as he watched the shinigami getting up, her zanpakuto drawn.

"What was that, shinigami?" he asked softly

"I said, shutup. And my name isn't 'shinigami', its Rukia Kuchiki!" she glared at him, and increased the amount of reiatsu she was letting out. The atmosphere became colder and frosty.

"Oh sorry, _shinigami_, but I don't acknowledge your kind by their names unless they deserve it. And you don't." he spat

"You've got a lot of nerve." she said, voice shaking as she looked down at the ground and shadows covered her face "You've got a lot of nerve for coming here. Not for insulting me. Not for annoying me and Ichigo. Not for mocking me. But for calling Ichigo a 'freak'. Now Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"

Suddenly the air seemed to become even colder. Everything was frozen over solid, and the Quincy had to jump back to avoid having his feet frozen solid. He had barely touched the ground before Rukia shouted "First Dance, Tsukishiro!".

The ground around her and the Quincy turned white, forming a fairly large circle of glowing ice and reiatsu on the already frozen ground.

The Quincy's eyes widened until they resembled dinner plates. Ice rose up from within the circle, covering his feet first, then his ankles, then his calf. He struggled to get free, but the ice seemed to turn even colder and grow faster.

'_If I don't do something soon, I'll freeze to death, or die of hypothermia later! If I don't break free now, either way I'll die! Damnit! Damn that shinigami!'_ he thought as he re-formed his bow again and shot at the ice, which chipped off but continued to grow even faster than before.

"Do you still think that I am unworthy of being called by my name, _Quincy_. Do you still wish to call me 'shinigami'?" Rukia growled as she watched him struggle like a fly stuck in honey.

He glared at her.

'_DAMN! …Maybe if I can summon the reiatsu she's giving off-no that won't work, it's too elemental and to unrefined. Though…if I summoned up all of _my_ remaining reiatsu into one large blast…it would leave me too weak to run for more than a mile, but I'd be able to stop and rest some. Yes, that will work. And I should aim the arrow…'_ he trailed off in his thoughts. As much as he hated shinigami, Rukia was a female and he had code of honor to stick to…

'_I'll aim it at her feet. Besides, I don't think I could really bring myself to kill her, even if she is a shinigami. She might not be so bad…even if she_ is _a shinigami.'_ he thought, and then started to focus all his remaining energy into one large arrow. It took nearly a minute, and by then he was up to his chest in ice.

He pulled back the blue string of reiatsu on his bow, pointed the bow at the shinigami's feet, and then let go of the string. There was a huge explosion of blue reiatsu that blew almost all the ice away. The shinigami leapt back, and the ice that had slowly been freezing him alive crumbled into snow.

He took her moment of distraction as an opportunity to run in the direction from which he came. He hated running away, but he had no choice. Besides…it was more of a…tactical retreat.

The Quincy ran as fast as he could, and when he stopped, he was just a little ways away from the school. That's when he felt it.

He felt the presence of a hollow. Just a small fry, but then he felt something else, something that made his eyes widen in cold fear.

He felt three small pinpricks of reiatsu. One belonged to that redheaded girl Chizuru, the other to Tatsuki, and the last, but strongest belonged to-

"Orihime Inoue." he breathed. The girl had been following him before and muttering something about Ichigo, Rukia and a space cowboy. While he knew that the girl could be a bit…weird, she had made it into the top fifty and scored third place. She could be quite intelligent, and he knew that she had some proficiency in karate, but no human could defeat a hollow, not unless they were a Quincy.

'_But what's this I'm feeling? It's as if her reiatsu level is…increasing!? No…but…how could it be? She's just a human, though maybe…it could be because she's in distress. But she was able to see Ichigo and Rukia in spirit form, which means she would be able to see other spiritual beings as well…'_ he thought, and then he realized why the hollow was there. Because of Orihime's higher reiatsu levels. Hell, it might even go after Tatsuki and Chizuru.

'_I have to go to the school, even if I can't kill the hollow. I owe it to Orihime, since this is partially my fault. If she gets killed by that thing, if any of them do…'_ the Quincy refused to think like that, and took a deep breath. The school was close, but he'd still have to be fast. He didn't know how long Orihime could delay the hollow, but if she could just keep the other girls and herself out of its grasp for about a minute, he would be able to save them.

Just as he started to run, he felt something close around his neck and slam him into the nearest tree.

The Quincy winced as he heard something crack.

"You." a voice snarled. He looked up to see Ichigo Kurosaki's face inches from his, and very mad looking. No, that was an understatement. The hollow looked more like he was about to rip the Quincy's chest open and pull out his rib cage. He could feel the pressure on his neck grow heavier, and was having trouble with breathing.

"O-Ori-Orihime." he coughed and the hollow-thing looked at him in confusion.

"What? What about Orihime?" Ichigo asked, and slackened his grip on the Quincy's neck.

"A-At the school. A hollow is attacking Tatsuki and-"

"Tatsuki's in trouble?" he asked sharply, and then let the Quincy go altogether. He got up, and started to run towards the school. He had no time to waste.

He then felt another spike of reiatsu, from Orihime. Only this time it was more controlled, as if she were fighting off something. He quickened his pace, and finally the school gates came into view. The only problem was-

"Damn! Its locked." he snarled and glared at the metal chain binding the two gates together. He looked up and wondered if he could climb over, but then he felt someone else's reiatsu signature behind him.

"Kurosaki." he said, and glared at the orange-haired teen. Ichigo pushed past him and snapped the chain on the gate with ease, and then stepped back. The Quincy stared at him.

"Well, get going already! Aren't you going to save them?" the hollow asked

"What? You're-"

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt by a hollow. I have to go back to Rukia because that stupid arrow of yours knocked her through a tree." Ichigo snapped.

"Sorry, I-"he stopped and then remembered Orihime. He ran through the gate, but stopped when Ichigo called out to him.

"Hey, Quincy! What's your name!?" he shouted

"Uryu Ishida!" he shouted back, and then took off again, rounding a corner seconds later and disappearing out of sight.

"Uryu Ishida? Have I heard that name before?" Ichigo wondered aloud as he started to walk away.

______________________________________

Uryu watched the battle between Orihime and the hollow conclude and Orihime faint.

Uryu Ishida stepped out of the shadows just as Orihime Inoue's hairpins fell to the ground next to her, like snowflakes. He walked over to where she lay, and knelt down beside her unconscious form.

"That was some fight you put up, Orihime. Though this is partly my fault since I knew you could see Ichigo and Rukia. I knew that meant that you could see spirits too, but I didn't think much of it because I _thought_ you'd go home and be safe there. I had no idea that so many others would get caught up in this." he paused and looked around the yard at all the unconscious students, then at Tatsuki and Chizuru.

"I regret going after Ichigo and Rukia…because I left you alone and you could have been killed, or worse. And that Ichigo Kurosaki _is_ some kind of hollow after all, and the stupid shinigami…" Uryu shivered, not because she had been frightening, but because he still some ice stuck to his shoulder. Her brushed it off, annoyed, but then continued.

"Though you have some interesting powers Orihime. I was about to step in, but then after the dust cleared, I realized that you might have some spiritual powers of your own." he put her hairpins back in her orange hair "And I was right. You fought amazingly for a human who had no idea what was really going on, or even what a hollow was, but you followed your instincts and won in the end. Even though it was just a lowly, common hollow, not even of Gillian class…you did well." he smiled at the girl, then sighed and shook his head, muttering to himself "Look at me, I'm talking to someone who can't even hear me."

He picked Orihime up, and carried her away bridal-style.

"Tatsuki and Chizuru will be fine and the others will be bruised up a little, but," he looked down at the girl in his arms "more hollows will come after you, especially because of your increased reiatsu. And I don't think you can take any more hollows on, not yet." he smiled at her again, and then walked towards the school gate, in the direction of his house.

"It's a good thing I sensed the hollow and came back to see if you were alright." he looked back up at the sky, and the sun which was gradually sinking lower and lower in the great blue expanse.

"The power of rejection…" the Quincy mused "You really are something else, aren't you, Orihime Inoue?"

______________________________

Rukia Kuchiki sat up, and winced as she felt a slight burning pain on her neck. She touched the place that hurt, and when she withdrew her hand, it was wet and red.

Even though it hurt like hell, she knew she should be thankful that she was still alive. She couldn't afford another mistake like that again. She couldn't underestimate the Quincy next time. She-

"Hey Rukia." a voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see Ichigo standing over her. He knelt down beside her and gently touched the wound on her neck. Just a few seconds later, Rukia felt his warm, rough tongue sliding across the cut and her skin.

She repressed a shudder and he licked her cut, and felt it start to close up. Though she was somewhat grateful for the fact that Ichigo's saliva had healing properties…she sometimes hated the fact too. No, he couldn't just let her heal it with kido. He had to lick her neck instead. She also knew that her kido wouldn't clean to wound, where as his saliva and licking would…but it still felt wrong.

Well, maybe.

She wasn't sure how to fell about it. It made her want to slap him and yell at him to stop, but at the same time she wanted to grab him by the front of his white jacket and-

"Hey Rukia. Hey." he waved a hand in front of her face, and she stopped thinking about…what she had been thinking about.

"I'm done. You're not hurt anywhere else, are you?" he asked. Rukia looked into his chocolate brown eyes, and saw genuine concern in them. He was really worried about her. It made her feel a bit guilty about considering that the hollow from earlier was right about him using her as bait. He was her partner.

"No, I'm fine." she said, and got up. Ichigo got up too, and looked at her critically, as if sensing that she was lying.

And she was.

Rukia could tell that she still had a long and deep cut on her back. The cut stretched from her shoulder and all the way down until it was level with her elbow. That and she suspected something might be broken.

When the Quincy fired the arrow at her feet, the cement and ice didn't absorb all of the shock. Some reiatsu from the arrow rebounded at her, and even though she leapt out of the way, it still lashed out violently at her and sent her flying through a tree.

Ichigo frowned slightly, and continued to stare at her.

"What? Is something wrong?" she asked.

He still continued to stare.

"Ichigo…don't look at me like that, I'm perfectly fine-AAHHH!" she squirmed in Ichigo's grip. He had suddenly swept her off her legs, and was now holding her bridal-style.

"Ichigo let go of me! I have two legs to walk on! I'm fine!" she yelled, and continued to struggle in his grasp, but he didn't let go. He got up and started to walk. She sighed and gave up after a few minutes. She rested in his arms and just looked up at the sky, which was slowly fading back to a near cloudless blue.

After what felt like ten minutes, Ichigo spoke up. Rukia looked around and realized that they had stopped in the middle of a graveyard.

"Rukia…my mother died a long time ago. When I was nine, I was walking home from a karate class that my mom always took me to. I was walking back home with her, and even though it was in the middle of June, it was raining. As we were walking by the river, I saw a girl with short black hair, purple eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing a white cloak with green trimming." Ichigo said, and Rukia looked at the grave they had stopped in front of. It read 'Masaki Kurosaki'.

"I saw the girl fall into the river, and I ran after her. I must've fallen into the river and lost consciousness…because when I woke up…my mother was lying on top of me. And she was dead."

Rukia felt a small lump form in her throat. That was horrible, but it sounded as if…

"I know what you're going to say Rukia. You'll say that a hollow attacked her."

Rukia couldn't help but wince. He was right. She would've said that, but now that she thought about it, it sounded incredibly insensitive.

"And you're probably right."

Rukia felt sorry for Ichigo. He should've been a substitute shinigami, but now he was an arrancar, a hollow with shinigami powers. It was her fault for getting him stuck in this situation. He'd never live a normal life. He'd never be truly happy in the world of the living. And technically, since his body had been destroyed, he was dead. And it was all her fault.

"Though, hollow or not, it was my fault."

Oh god…oh no…this sounded like her guilt over Kaien. Ichigo painfully resembled her old shinigami friend…it broke her heart to know that, and to see him like this.

"That day, I tried to save someone, but someone saved _me_ instead. My mother gave her life to protect me. She was the heart of our family, and I had just ripped that heart out. Everyone was so torn up about it…and it was all because of me."

God, she wished he would stop. She almost didn't want to hear this anymore, but she knew she needed to. She owed at least that much to him…

"But now…now that I'm a hollow, I can understand why the others go after human souls, though I know I must stop them and that I can't allow them any sympathy. A hollow doesn't deserve it, no matter what. And now that I have this power…I'll use it to protect not only those close to me, but the other souls in this town, both living and dead. Because I don't ever want that to happen to anyone. No one should have to go through or suffer from that kind of pain, to lose someone you love to a monster."

Rukia was doing her best not to cry.

"So Rukia, I ask only one thing of you." he said as they started to walk away again. His face was covered in shadows.

"If…I ever lost control of myself…I…would want you…to kill me."

'_No…no…NO! I would never do that! Not...not again.'_ she thought, because she could no longer speak without fear of being unable to keep her voice even. She didn't want to cry, not now…not…now…

"Sometimes, I can feel this hunger…when I get close to powerful souls. When I'm close to my family. When I'm close to Orihime and Tatsuki. And when I'm close to you. So instead I have to feed on other hollows."

He put her hand over his heart, and pressed her hand there. She felt nothing. There was nothing but a hole, a hollow place where his heart had been, where she had stabbed him.

"I'm a hollow now, Rukia. You and I can't deny it. And because I' a hollow, I'll always have to feed on other hollows…or souls. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to hurt Karin or Yuzu. I don't want to hurt any of my friends, or you, or anyone else. So if I ever did lose control of myself and became a full monster…"

She didn't want him to finish that sentence. She didn't want to hear what he had to say next.

"I would want you to stab me with your zanpakuto."

She wanted to scream at him. Yell at him, slap him, or tell him what an idiot he was for saying such things. She wanted to say no, but it was too painful to speak. Tears were now rolling down her face, and she was trying her hardest not to cry aloud.

Ichigo looked down at her. His eyes were gentle, but filled with grief for someone he lost, and the people he still might lose.

He gently wiped away her tears.

He brushed his lips against her cheek.

And then he pressed two fingers gently to the back of her neck, and she lost consciousness.

Ichigo brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, and wipe away one stray tear.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

____________________________________________

When Orihime woke up, she was laying on a bed. But it wasn't her bed.

"Huh? Where am I?" she asked, looking around. She was in a bedroom with white wallpaper, but most of the spaces on the walls were taken up by charts, pictures, and other stuff. A lot of it looked like math and school stuff, but there was a map just above the bed of Karakura town, and small dots, as if someone had marked certain locations of places, or something.

Something…

Orihime just realized that she had been attacked by a monster, but fought against it and won, but then fainted afterwards. She fainted at school…not in someone's bedroom.

It couldn't be Tatsuki's bedroom. It couldn't be Chizuru's.

So then-

"Hello there." someone said. Orihime looked up from the bed to see a man standing in the doorway. He had snow white hair, and ice blue eyes. He looked exactly like Uryu, only older, and the glasses seemed slightly different. Aside hair color, age difference, and the difference in their glasses, they could've been twins.

This man, whoever he was, seemed like the cold kind of person who usually preferred to be alone. Also like Uryu, he gave off a certain vibe that he had been through hard times, and saw the world as his enemy.

Orihime didn't know what to say, as her mind had temporarily gone blank. But finally she summoned up the courage to speak.

"Oh…um…hi…where am I?" she asked

"In my house."

"Oh…um…why?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but you were unconscious when my son brought you in. Maybe you should ask him. Ah, and here he comes."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!" someone yelled, and she watched as Uryu stormed in with bandages and a first aid kit.

"Can you _please_ stay away from my room?" the dark haired teen asked angrily, but his father just seemed amused.

"I will, but only if you two keep quiet. I know it must be _hard_ these days for two teens of the opposite gender to stay locked in a room together. I can only imagine what you two will be doing. Maybe you'll play a game with her?" the question sounded innocent enough, but Uryu didn't miss the hidden meaning behind his words.

Face completely red, Uryu slammed the door on his father.

He turned around to face Orihime. He sat down on the bed next to her.

"Um…Uryu?" she asked, a little bit confused about what happened. She didn't exactly understand why Uryu had gotten so angry at the man. It wasn't as if he were saying something nasty.

"Um…do you know anything about that thing that attacked me? And why am I here? And who was that man?" she asked.

"Well…" he said, and then started to explain everything that happened, who he was, what hollows and shinigami were, what Ichigo could be, and what she had done. It took a long time to explain everything, and in turn she said that lately she noticed odd things, like people who seemed transparent, and monsters that lurked around the town.

It took a while, but eventually they figured it out and started to come to an understanding.

_______________________________________

Rukia woke up in the clinic. She didn't listen to Ichigo's sisters as she got up and left, or his father. The sky was starting to turn gray, and this time it had nothing to do with her reiatsu.

Rukia walked around the block, and then climbed up to Ichigo's window just as it started to rain. When she got there, the arrancar wasn't there.

She went to her closet, and pulled out a stuffed Chappy doll she had gotten here in this world of living souls. Ichigo won it for her at a festival that he took her too with his family and friends.

Rukia hugged the plushie close to her body, and lay down on Ichigo's bed. She began to cry into the sheets, and hugged her plushie closer as she curled up. She cried for Kaien. For Ichigo's mom. For Ichigo and all the pain he had to endure. She cried because of all the pain in this town, because of the pain in this world and all the worlds. She cried because it was raining, and just for the sake of crying.

But most of all.

She cried because she missed Ichigo, even though he had been gone for just a little bit, and he would come back soon. Though she couldn't help but miss him even more, because of what he said.

Because she loved him.

__________________________________________________

**AN:** **** this was a big chapter. A bit angsty, and kinda fluffy…kinda. *hides from readers* don't hurt me!

I wasn't planning on the chapter being like this, and idk where that last bit- 'Because she loved him' came from, though I'm blaming Rukia feeling that way about Ichigo, not because she's spent a lot of time with him, but because he looks like Kaien...who she kinda had a crush on or something, idk I forgot and about Ichigo being sorta emo at the end…well that's because he was afraid of Rukia getting hurt and stuff. So um…tell me what you think about this chappy…in a review. Sorry, no closing poem, but please just review. also…about taking the other chapters down from earlier…I'm not exactly sure how the story should go after this, but I do have several ideas though I'm not sure which one to use…though I have made up my mind about most things that will happen later. So please, review and don't flame/rant.


	6. Chappy 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

___________________________________

Masaki Kurosaki sighed wistfully. It had been six years. Six years since she saved her son from a hollow. Six years since that hollow had eaten her soul, thus making her a hollow as well. And it had been nearly a year since she started to serve under Lord Aizen.

Masaki still knew where her house was, and everyone who still lived there. The only reason she never returned after becoming an arrancar was because she was afraid. What would Karin and Yuzu think of her, now that she was a hollow? And what about her little strawberry, Ichigo, who had grown up so fast without her? And then there was Isshin…what would he do when he saw his wife like this?

So the only thing Masaki could do was watch from a safe distance. But she had seen what had happened to her son after that shinigami stabbed him. Though she was grateful to the dark-haired girl, she also wished that the shinigami would have been more careful when transferring her powers to Ichigo. Though this gave her some hope that she might be able to go back and see her family.

The only problem was Lord Aizen. He probably wouldn't miss her, but there was a chance he wouldn't let her go either. Even though she was just a serving arrancar, their leader might not just let her free. So Masaki thought of the one person in the entire fortress of Las Noches who held any sympathy for the arrancar. Lady Kendai.

_____________________________________________

Ichigo watched the city below from atop a telephone pole.

'**Why'd you run away, King? Scared of the shinigami?'** Shiro asked. Shiro was his inner hollow, the one who had taught him how to use a cero and how to use sonido. Ichigo didn't know what else his inner hollow could teach him, but he was sure there was much more.

_Don't listen to him Ichigo, you're just confused about what to do is all. Love can be a complicated thing._, his zanpakuto, Zangetsu said. Zangetsu was convinced Ichigo was in love with Rukia. Shiro was convinced that Ichigo 'didn't have the balls to admit his crappy feelings' to Rukia.

Ichigo was still unsure _why_ they thought he loved her. He did…like her, and harbored some affection for his partner. He wasn't sure about love…he hadn't known her for that long, and her past was still a mystery to him. In fact, the more he thought about it, she never said where she came from or if she had any siblings or relatives. She never mentioned friends or family. Or a home. Or…a boyfriend, husband, or mate.

'**She's not taken. So you better take her before someone else does.'** Shiro said, and for once sounded serious. Not like the idiotic, headache inducing inner hollow he usually dealt with.

'**I bet she's still a virgin too. She'll be so fun to b-'**

_Would you stop it, you disgusting, perverted freak? That's not love. Love is something beautiful-_

'**Yeah, and I bet that shinigami looks pretty beautiful when she's not wearing anything!'** the hollow cackled.

Ichigo tried to ignore them. That's when something caught his attention. A lone figure was running down the streets. No, there was the one person, and then another person on the first person's back.

Ichigo's eyes widened when he recognized the two people.

'_Chad! Karin!'_

Ichigo leaped down from the pole, but stopped in mid-air. They probably wouldn't be able to see him, but if they did, uncomfortable questions would rise. Ichigo didn't want Karin to find out what her brother had become.

"Hey, Ichigo's friend, can you go a little faster? I know you're the one doing the running, but if we don't catch up to it, that thing'll eat my sister for sure!" Karin yelled.

'_What does Karin…DAMNIT!!! Not Yuzu!'_

Ichigo instantly opened up his senses and used his Pesquisa. He felt a faint but familiar dot of reiatsu nearby, at the edge of the park he and Rukia had been in earlier that day. There was Yuzu's reiatsu signature…and a hollow's.

Ichigo growled at his own stupidity and took of sonidoing as fast as possible. How could he not notice such a thing? And after today, after he talked to Rukia about his mother…how could something like this happen?

In less than a minute, Ichigo was above the park. He landed by a swing set, and looked around. He saw nothing. He heard, nor felt anything. It was as if Yuzu and the hollow had vanished.

Ichigo felt cold fear send shivers down his spine. What if the hollow, sensing his presence, disappeared into Hueco Mundo? He knew that Hueco Mundo was the world of the hollows, a hellish opposite to Soul Society. It was where hollows hid and lived, where Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde dwelled. Ichigo could probably follow the hollow if it had gone into Hueco Mundo, but he rather not, not unless the hollow _had_ taken Yuzu there. He hadn't ventured into the realm of hollows just yet, but he did feel a certain pull to the place, as if it were calling him.

Ichigo kept feeling around the park for a few tense minutes, when he felt something. It was Yuzu.

Ichigo's head whipped around, and he saw a very ugly hollow holding his sister in one of its red hands. The hollow looked like and over-sized, ugly mutated hamster, and it had something odd poking out of its mask.

"Ichigo?" Yuzu breathed, tears blurring her vision.

"What do you want with her?" the arrancar asked, and let out some spiritual pressure to let the hollow know he was pissed off. Not enough to impair his sister's breathing, but enough to get the message across.

"_So, the stories are true. A young orange haired arrancar of Vasto Lorde class. Lord Aizen has sent out messengers to tell us hollows something. He said that if any one of us could bring him a decent arrancar or find a Vasto Lorde, he would reward us with an…upgrade from the Hogyoku. I've been watching you, carrot-top, and I know that this girl is your sister. If you don't come with me, then I'll-"_

The hollow never got a chance to finish its threat, because Ichigo had knocked it back into the trees, and grabbed Yuzu out of its grasp before doing so. It happened in nearly half a second, thanks to his sonido.

Ichigo kneeled down on the sand, and cradled his little sister.

"You're not hurt, are you, Yuzu?" he asked softly. Yuzu, who was still crying silently, shook her head.

"Okay then, we'll go back home. Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked. He wanted to know for sure that she wasn't hurt. He knew this would be traumatic for her, but when he got back to the clinic, he would ask Rukia to wipe her memory with that thing she had. Yuzu would be better off never remembering this ever happened.

"Ichi-Ichigo? Wh-What's g-go-going o-on?" she sobbed

"Yuzu…I…" he trailed off.

"Wh-What's-s th-this?" she asked as she touched the white and red mask fragment that curved from the side of his eyes to his cheek like a crescent moon.

"Yuzu, I need you to listen to me. There isn't much time to explain, but that monster that just attacked you is called a hollow. Hollows eat the souls of people, but they can be destroyed. I…I'm a little bit like a hollow, but I don't eat people's souls." he smiled reassuringly at her, "I'll take care of it, but I need you to run over to Chad and Karin, who should be coming just around the corner."

He looked up and so did Yuzu. Yuzu saw that her older brother was right as she saw Karin on a large teen's back, frantically looked around. When she saw Ichigo and Yuzu, she called out to them.

"Yuzu! Are you okay! Hey Ichigo, why are you-" she stopped when she saw the monster that had grabbed Yuzu come out of a clump of trees. It had tree branches and wood stuck in its fur, and poking out at odd and random places. It would have been a funny sight to see if the situation wasn't so grave.

"_Damn you! I won't let you catch me off guard again, you insolent little brat!"_ it snarled

Ichigo didn't seem frightened at all. On the contrary, he just seemed annoyed.

"Yuzu, go over to Chad and Karin. I'll handle this."

"But, Ichigo-"

"Don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself. I'll be fine." he said, and patted her shoulder like he would before when she tripped or got hurt and he'd put a band aid on her cut.

She nodded, and then got up and started run to her sister and Chad.

She was half way there, when Karin screamed. Yuzu wanted to stop, but her legs didn't register with her thoughts, and she tripped instead.

Yuzu was almost too scared to look up. She heard Karin scream, but when she looked up and saw her twin, she saw that she was fine and so was Ichigo's friend. But then she twisted her head back, and saw her brother standing over her, with something poking at his back.

It took her a few moments to realize that the red was the hollow's horrible claws, and that it had struck Ichigo. Yuzu would've screamed too, but it was almost as if she lost her voice.

But Ichigo wasn't looking at her anymore. He was glaring at the hollow behind him.

"You dare attack her while she had her back turned to you? You lowly piece of scum. First you kidnap an innocent girl, threaten her, and then attack her while she has her back turned to you?" his voice shook with rage, and the amount of reiatsu he was letting out increased dramatically.

"Ichigo?" Yuzu whispered. This person or thing before her didn't resemble her older brother anymore. It was more fierce, powerful, and darker than Ichigo.

Her older brother looked back at her, and his eyes softened. He picked her up again and told her to close her eyes. She did and felt a rush of wind and a slight tug of gravity before she was gently set down in someone else's arms.

Yuzu opened her eyes again, and blinked in surprise when she saw Ichigo standing in the same spot as before, but she was now with Karin and Chad. How did that happen?

"Yuzu! Yuzu! Are you hurt? It didn't hurt you, did it?" Karin asked as she jumped off the giant teen's back. She looked back at her brother, who was fighting off the monster with his bare hands. Nothing the hollow did seemed to work, until finally, it jumped back.

"_Hn. It seems as if I've underestimated you. Though this time you'll be mine for sure! ATTACK!!!" _the hollow screeched.

Suddenly, swarms of hollows jumped out of the surrounding trees, and black tears in the sky appeared, signaling the arrival of more hollows.

Yuzu shrunk back, and was scooped up along with her sister by Ichigo's friend. Chad took a defensive stance, prepared to try and fight off any of the things that came near them. It seemed as if Ichigo's sisters could see the monsters clearly, but he only saw blurry outlines occasionally. Other than that, he merely saw the air shimmer where the things were, as if they were only heat waves. To Chad, it looked as if the small park and the sky above were full of them.

"No! Ichigo!" Karin screamed, and struggled in Chad's grasp.

Ichigo ignored his sister's cry, and just felt a tinge of annoyance. Not at Karin, but at all the hollows. They were all weak, small fries, not even of Menos class.

The hollows edged closer, but they all seemed nervous, as if they could sense the orange haired arrancar's hidden spiritual pressure.

"_What are you waiting for you fools?! Attack him!"_ the hamster-like hollow yelled, and glared at the surrounding hollows. None of them moved or made a sound, as if they had been frozen in time.

Finally a zebra-like hollow spoke up.

"_Uh, well, boss man, um…we don't really want to."_ it neighed (**AN: Idk if zebras 'neigh' like a horse. Probably not, but I still think it's kind of funny**).

"_You insolent fools, how dare you-aaagggghhhhhhh!!!"_

Ichigo had gotten tired of listening to the giant hairball talk and talk to its minions, so he grabbed it by whatever neck it had, and slammed it into the ground. Then, with his other hand, he started to slowly crush its mask. Slow enough so that it would be tortured and feel unimaginable pain, but fast enough so that its mask wouldn't regenerate.

Its screams of pain echoed through the night air, as the sky was now dark and a sliver of the silver moon hung in the sky. Every hollow and human nearby winced away from the horrible screeching. Even Chad could hear it, and even after the hollow dispersed, the horrible sound still rung in his ears.

Finally, the hollow dissolved just as he pulled the last bit of white mask of its face. He held up a large mask fragment from the ugly hamster, like a souvenir, for all the hollows to see.

"Unless you want to end up like him, I suggest you leave this place." Ichigo said

The hollows started to back up uneasily, but one hollow stepped forward.

"_Can't you see that Grand Fisher was weak? That's why this insolent child was able to defeat him. What are you all afraid of?"_ it snarled, and then charged at Ichigo.

'_Foolish.'_ Ichigo though, before he stabbed the hollow with his other hand that wasn't holding the remnants of their leader. That hollow also dissolved, but the other hollows around the park started to edge forward again, as if inspired by their fallen comrade's attempt to attack the arrancar.

"_He won't stand a chance if we attack him all at once!"_ a snake-like hollow hissed, and slithered through the air at Ichigo. The other hollows followed its lead, and flew behind it.

Ichigo just raised his hand, and charged up a cero. The black and red energy formed rapidly in his hand, and most hollows weren't fast enough to dodge the blast when he fired his attack. The snake hollow, though, had been one of the fortunate few who had gotten out of the way in time. It snarled in anger at him, and bared its fangs, yet it dared not get any closer.

The hollow saw the three humans out of the corner of its black and yellow eyes, and hissed to its comrades its plan.

"_I'll go for those stupid humans its protecting, while the rest of you come with me, except for Bob."_ it hissed, and jabbed its tail at a purple hollow with a puffy-cheeked white mask. Bob grunted in understanding and punched its ugly fists together.

Ichigo watched the hollows converse, and didn't like the looks of it. Even if they were just small fries, there were lots of them. If most of them attacked him at once, and a few strayed over to Chad and his sisters, he might not be able to reach them in time, even if he used his sonido.

The snake-like hollow hissed, and bared its fangs in a deformed grin, before slithering off towards Chad, Karin, and Yuzu. It was followed by another hollow, and the rest swarmed around Ichigo like angry bees.

Ichigo growled, and fought through the wall of hollows that had formed, blocking him and stopping him from getting to the others. Ichigo daren't fire a cero in that direction, in fear that it might be too strong and not only punch through the wall of hollows, but also hit the others.

On the other side of the hollow-wall, the snake hollow reared and struck again, but only got another mouthful of sand and dirt. It spat out the earth, and snarled at its companion.

"_You idiot! Why don't you help me get these humans instead of staring like an idiot at them! You can always join them-" _it jabbed its tail at the hollows that had formed a solid wall with their bodies, but were slowly being torn apart and destroyed as a whole by the arrancar. The only reason the arrancar wasn't over here already was because the arrancar hadn't used a cero. If he had, the wall of hollows would have been torn down already, and they would probably be killed too.

"_Now help me catch these worthless bits of bait! The girls at least should be somewhat tasty. If you help me I might let you have a bite of the little brown haired girl."_ it hissed, and then started to pursue Chad again.

The twins were holding on to his shoulders for dear life as he ran, jumped, and dodged with surprising speed and agility for someone so large. The hollow struck again, but Chad jumped out of the way, and the hollow bashed its head into the ground and coiled up in pain as its mask cracked a bit.

Karin and Yuzu were yelling where the hollow had been, so that he could dodge its attacks.

"Oh no! That other hollow is starting to chase us too!" Yuzu yelled as she glanced behind them. Suddenly, Chad stopped.

"Hey! Mister! Why the hell did you stop! That thing is almost right behind us!" Karin yelled, and shook his shoulder. Chad ignored her and set the two of them down.

"Hey Mister, what are you going to do?" Yuzu asked fearfully as Bob the hollow lumbered towards them. She gripped her sister in fear, and tried not to scream. It felt as if its yellow eyes were burning right into her soul.

Karin trembled in fear and anger.

"Hey, now don't go doing anything stupid. Hey, are you listening?!" she yelled, and glared at him.

"Just tell me where it is." Chad said, and stared at the shimmering air that seemed to be spreading. He focused almost all of his attention on it, and braced himself.

"Huh? But why?" Yuzu asked.

"Never mind that! It's right in front of you!" Karin yelled, and Chad tensed. He watched as the heat waves seemed to form a figure, and saw the 'figures' hand reach out towards them. He summoned up all his strength and punched at the its wrist. He heard a snapping sound not even seconds later, but then after, he heard a roar of pain and before he could react something hard knocked into him and swept him into the air.

Yuzu screamed as she watched Ichigo's friend land with a sickening crunch, and lay there, unmoving.

Chad, who was just barely conscious, heard her scream and tried to get up, but found that he couldn't. He closed his eyes and thought,

'_Grandfather, when I was young, you taught me that I shouldn't use my fists to hurt people just because they made me mad.'_

_Don't tell me hit someone again, Yasutora?_

_What's the point of hitting someone?_

_You hurt those who hurt you, and what's left?_

_Yasutora, you are strong._

_You are big. You are beautiful._

_You are born with everything people wish from God._

_People who are different are suppressed_

_I don't know about other things, but that's the way things are in this world._

_But Yasutora…_

_You must be kind._

_You must learn why you have such big, strong fists._

_Find out._

'_I know, Grandfather.'_

"Please Mister, get up!" Yuzu screamed tearfully, and her sister watched in horror as the monster came closer. Any minute it now and it would be upon them.

'_My fists aren't big so that I can hurt others. My body…is big…so that I can protect. I know all that.'_ he thought, and started to get up again, despite the blood running down his face, and the burning pain where the thing had hit him. He walked back over to the girls, and stood in front of them, and got ready to defend them again.

'_I know that…. But that's why…even just a little…'_

He could now see the thing clearly. It roared, and pulled back its fist, and he mirrored its movement.

'_I want you to lend me your strength!'_

He punched forward with all his might just as the hollow's fist came down on him. His only thoughts were to protect the girls, and to help Ichigo, just like whenever they got into fights before.

Karin and Yuzu were blinded by a brilliant flash of white light as Chad and the hollow's fists collided. Karin blinked rapidly, and gasped as the light died out.

The hollow was sent flying backwards, screeching in pain, while blood streamed out of the stump that had once been its arm. Chad, on the other hand, seemed fine, but his arm was-

"H-Hey! What happened to your arm?!" she asked, her eyes widening. His right arm was covered in what looked like some sort of armor or something. It was mostly black, but it had a large red stripe running down the middle and closing at the wrist, and the red stripe was framed by two thin white stripes, separating black and red. It had fins on each side of his arm close to the wrist, and the armor reached up past his shoulder, nearly level with his head, but in the middle there was a U-shape that curved into it, ending just a few inches above his shoulder.

Karin could feel a sort of thickness in the air, almost like when Ichigo got mad out that monster, only this thickness in the air wasn't nearly as stifling as her brother's. She remembered when Ichigo got really mad at the monster, she felt as if she could hardly breathe.

Chad looked over at the hollow, who was trying to get up. It got on one knee, then rose up again. It roared, and Chad took off running at it.

"Hey Mister! What are you doing?!" Yuzu yelled. It almost looked as if he were going to attack it.

Chad increased his speed as the hollow's other hand came down on him. He punched up again, feeling a rush of power from deep inside his soul. It felt like it could barely be contained in his body, and needed to be released, so release it he did, right when he punched at the hollow.

A huge blast of bluish-white energy sent the hollow flying into the night sky, and as the light faded away, so did the hollow, which had been split in two. Chad watched it dissolve like all the other things that had been attacking them, but turned his attention back to Ichigo's sisters when they called out to him.

"Hey…Mister…is your arm alright?" Yuzu asked, looking at him with concern.

He raised his other arm, and gave them a thumbs-up.

Karin twitched and thought, _'Did he really give us the thumbs-up sign? How uncool-what a dork!'_

And then he fell over.

"Mister!" the two girls yelled in unison, and ran over to him, asking him if he was going to be okay and if he could get up.

'_I don't understand…. The armor on my right arm appeared out of nowhere. And from it…something amazing was released. And suddenly, I could see that monster so clearly. I don't understand…not at all. Just…'_ he thought as the girl's looked him over, and talked about how they'd get him back to the clinic.

"Hey, Ichigo's sisters, you're not hurt are you?" Chad asked. Right now, that was his main concern.

"Huh? Of course we're alright! You're the only one who's hurt, so-" Karin started to say, but suddenly she looked up. The snake thing had gotten its head stuck in the ground earlier, but now it had gotten unstuck. It looked around, and tasted the air with its tongue.

"_So Bob is gone, eh? No matter, I always did think he was an idiot, no good, useless…"_ it trailed off, muttering, or rather hissing to itself. Its head snapped in their direction, and a reptilian smile crept onto its white mask.

"_So, you humans are still alive. And by the looks of things, one of you killed Bob. Maybe I was wrong about the brute not being so tasty after all. In fact, I believe you'll make a good dinner, and the girls will be exssellent appetizers."_ it hissed, and then slithered at them before they could all even blink.

Just when it was only a few feet away from the, a blur caught it by its throat, and slammed it into the ground. A few seconds later, when it stopped moving, they all saw that it was Ichigo. But it wasn't Ichigo, at least it didn't look that way to Karin and Yuzu.

Ichigo's eyes had changed. His sclera was pure black, and his usually chocolate brown eyes had turned a bright, cold yellow golden color like those monster's eyes. That and he wore a fierce expression, he was covered in blood that was not his own, and he was letting out a think, stifling, and somehow, a _sinister_ or _evil_ feeling energy filled with hate, rage, and bloodlust.

He snarled like a feral dog at the hollow, and then did something that would forever burn into the memory of both girls.

He ripped the hollow out of its skin.

Karin's eyes widened in horror as she watched hollow writhe in agony, its red muscles moving and dripping blood. She could actually see tissue contract and pull with its muscles. She felt like retching when Ichigo started to strip away its muscles, tissue, and organs until they could see white bone with red clumps sticking here and there. But the worst part was that it was still alive and screaming horribly as it felt the pain and agony of being skinned and stripped down alive. Blood didn't drip, but now poured out onto the ground like a river of red, staining the earth with the horrible creature's blood.

Ichigo probably would've stripped it down to its spine, leaving nothing but bones, until he dimly heard someone other than the hollow scream. Through the hazy, mist-like curtain of bloodlust that clouded his mind, he was vaguely made aware of the presence of three human souls.

He turned around and then with an awful realization that blew away his bloodlust, that his sisters and Chad were still there, watching him strip the hollow of its skin, muscle, tissue, organs, and all other parts that laid beneath until he reached the bone. He dropped the hollow, which was still alive and had half of its muscles and other parts covering its bones. No one noticed it slip away into the shadows, where it disappeared into Hueco Mundo with one destination in what was left of its mind.

Ichigo looked at his sisters, not knowing what to do. They had just witnessed him do something horrible and atrocious. Something a human could never dream of doing, something only a hollow would do.

"Karin…Yuzu…" he reached out with one blood covered hand, and with shock realized that his voice sounded warped, like a hollow's.

He took a step towards them, and then another step…

"NOOO!" Karin screamed, and shielded her sister from monster in front of her.

"K-Karin…" Ichigo whispered, but Karin just shook her head, tears now streaming down her face.

"You're not my brother. You're just like one of those monsters." she said fiercely.

Her words cut through Ichigo like a sword, piercing his iron tough skin and cutting though everything underneath.

"Karin…it's me. Ichigo, your…brother." he tried to sound comforting, but apparently it didn't work because she just backed up and shook her head.

"No…you're just a monster!" she yelled.

Ichigo looked helplessly at Yuzu, who was staring at him in fear. He looked at Chad, who seemed…surprised, and mouthed _'I'll take care of this.'_

Ichigo got the message and understood. He could only wait and hope that maybe they would forget, or just think this was a dream, or that maybe they would just forgive him, because he wasn't naïve enough to hope that they would understand. Humans could never understand hollows.

Ichigo let his hand drop to his side, and turned around, sonidoing into the night and out of his sister's sight. His feet seemed to carry him home on their own, because he wasn't thinking, except for just one thought.

'_Oh God, I __**am**__ a monster.'_

Tears slid off his face as the wind whipped at his face, tugging at his blood-stained jacket and hakama.

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Rukia stirred when she felt a breeze brush against her skin. She opened her eyes sleepily, and yawned. She saw something sitting in the window, and for a moment she thought it was her imagination, but after blinking a few times, she realized it wasn't just her seeing things.

It was Ichigo.

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**AN:** AAAANNNNDDD I'm gonna end it there because I'm kinda too lazy to write anymore, jk. I thought I'd leave you on…half a cliffy? At the end when Rukia sees Ichigo in the window. Please keep in mind that Shiro is trying her best to update as fast as possible and not make stupid grammar errors, and that Shiro stayed up past 3:00 am in the morning to finish this, and then got up again to write the part with Rukia, no matter how short it was. And Shiro will stop typing in third person because she knows it's stupid.

I got the idea for the part where Ichigo 'strips' the hollow from the movie Silent Hill(which I don't own T_T) and there is such a thing as a zebra hollow. It was in one of the first episodes when Ichigo and Uryu were fighting back-to-back before the Menos came out…or maybe after, idk. And Chad's thoughts are from the English anime, but they aren't. Chad's thoughts are from the subs on the DVD, because in the actual English, they talk more. Soooo…REVIEW!!! DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!! REVIEWING IS IMPORTANT!!! btw, I had to do this chapter so we'd know where Chad/ how Chad got his powers, and I decided to through in this little conflict that Ichigo's having with himself because it reminds me a bit of the Arrancar arc and how he fought his inner hollow. Though don't worry! Ichigo won't stay emo forever, that's why he has Rukia! lol

REVIEW!


	7. Chappy 7

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Bleach, there would be tons of Ichirukiness, and some passionate kissing scenes between them. But there aren't any passionate kissing scenes, so I don't own Bleach T_T

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Rukia stirred when she felt a breeze brush against her skin. She opened her eyes sleepily, and yawned. She saw something sitting in the window, and for a moment she thought it was her imagination, but after blinking a few times, she realized it wasn't just her seeing things.

It was Ichigo.

Rukia stared at him for a few minutes, before trying to get up and walk over to the window. Keyword try.

Rukia cursed under her breath as she rolled off the bed and hit the floor clumsily. She got up unsteadily, and walked over to the window where Ichigo was sitting hunched over with his back to her.

"Hey…Ichigo?" she asked softly, and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't look at her, or show any sign that he heard her.

"Hey, Ichigo." she tapped his shoulder, and waited for a response.

"Just…leave me alone. Don't look at me." he whispered

"Ichigo…what's wrong? You're not hurt are you?" Rukia asked, concerned for the arrancar. She could see blood stains on his jacket, but she had a feeling that blood wasn't his.

"I said just leave me alone." he growled, and shook off her hand. Rukia frowned.

'_Okay then, be that way Mr. Stubborn-Idiot.'_ she thought, and then grabbed both of his shoulders. And then she pulled with all her might.

And he still didn't budge.

"Just go away." he said, and hunched over a bit more. Rukia cursed under her breath again, and then gave up on trying to pull him in through the window. Instead, she went over to his desk, opened up one of the drawers, and brandished her secret weapon. The sketch book.

Rukia glared at Ichigo's back.

"Ichigo, I have my sketch book. If you don't get out of the window, then I'm gonna kick your ass with it!" she said, and waited for him to scramble out of the window, but he didn't. He just stayed there, moping and being-what was the word? Oh yeah, emo.

Rukia did a silent count down to three, and then she whacked him with sketch book. Well, she tried to, but Ichigo's hand shot out, grabbed the sketch book, and yanked it out the window. Unfortunately for Rukia, she was still holding on, and was nearly thrown out the window as well.

Rukia eyes the ground in distaste. She was in her gigai, and would rather not fall or risk damaging it, even if she could get a new one from Urahara.

It might have appeared quite comical to any passerby. A small teen holding onto a sketch book while she dangled above the ground, while a carrot-topped teen sat in the window and held onto the other part of the sketch book that was the only thing keeping the other teen from falling.

Rukia looked up at Ichigo, so she could glare at him and tell him what an idiot he was. She looked up at him and her eyes widened in shock.

He was completely covered in blood, and tears were dripping down his face, leaving vivid tear tracks in the gore that covered his face. His eyes were black and yellow, like a hollows, but they held a sadness that Rukia, in all her years of being a shinigami, had never seen in a hollow.

But the sadness vanished the moment she looked into his eyes, and was replaced by anger.

"So do you want to call me a monster now?" he asked fiercely, and Rukia flinched at how his voice was warped like a hollow's. This only seemed to anger him more, as he tossed her and the sketch book back inside, and then took off.

Rukia landed roughly on the bed, and stared at the place where Ichigo had just been. She was still too shocked to do anything for a few minutes, until she realized that something must've happened.

'_But what?'_ she wondered, and then heard the door slam underneath her. Someone was coming back.

She wondered who it could be. It couldn't be Ichigo. Maybe his dad? She felt the reiatsu signature, and found that it was his sisters, and Ichigo's friend, Chad.

Rukia wondered what was happening. Chad seemed calm, but she could tell by the way of his reiatsu that underneath it all, he was upset. The girl's emotions were easier to tell from the way their reiatsu fluctuated wildly, especially Yuzu's.

Rukia got off the bed and went over to the door. She opened it up a bit, and could hear their voices more clearly. She felt Ichigo's dad approaching. That's when she realized that Chad's reiatsu had increased since she last saw him.

'_How could that happen?'_ she wondered, and then listened to what was happening downstairs.

"Hey big guy, you look pretty banged up. Let's get a room for you-"

"No thanks I'm fine. I just came here to make sure that Ichigo's sisters got home safely." Rukia heard Chad say.

"One of Ichigo's friends, eh? Well, still, you look kinda hurt. I should at least bandage you up some-"

"No thanks, I'm fine. I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"What?! The only thing that'll bother me is knowing that I let you go with those wounds! So why don't you follow me and I'll take care of it. Hey, why don't you spend the night? Even for a big guy like you, it can be pretty dangerous. Especially tonight."

Rukia could just imagine Chad and Ichigo's sister exchanging glances. And if Rukia had been down there, she would have done the same thing.

"Um, why Dad?" Yuzu asked. Rukia thought that it sounded as if the young girl had been crying, but that could have been her imagining things.

"Why, it's a full moon tonight! And it's a proven fact that drivers often tend to take more risks while driving on the night of a full moon."

"Dad."

"Yes, Karin?"

**CRACK**

"You're an idiot." the girl said, and Rukia smiled as she pictured the scene. Chad standing there, looking from Karin's fist to Ichigo's dad, wondering if he was okay, Karin twitching in annoyance, Yuzu looking at her Dad from her over her twin's shoulder, and their dad on the floor, twitching in pain.

Rukia felt a tinge of warmth, and found herself, for a moment, longing for the same kind of warmth and care from a family. But all that disappeared when she thought of Byakuya, her cold and uncaring adoptive brother. Though she knew she should be grateful to him for picking her up off the streets, she really wasn't. Her being a noble meant she had to act the part, and being a noble woman often brought about many complications.

Rukia then remembered that Ichigo would never truly be able be close to his family again. He would not only outlive them, but it would be too painful for him to be close to them again. He was a hollow now, and Rukia knew that hollows could never be understood, except by another hollow. And it was Rukia's fault that he was like this.

Once again, she felt the immense guilt from before, and was tempted to fry but resolved not to. She had done her crying, and she had to be strong now. Besides, if she started crying again she wouldn't be able to stop.

She went back to the bed, and hugged her Chappy plushie. She thought of going to look for Ichigo, but then thought that he would just come back anyways. A few minutes later she realized how incredibly shallow that was, and felt even more ashamed. She had created the arrancar, so therefore, it was her job to look after it. That, and it was the least she could do for Ichigo, who was in this situation because of her.

'_Cause and effect.'_ she thought bitterly

_That's right Rukia. You caused that boy to become an arrancar, and the effect is him becoming-_

'_Don't say that he became a monster. That's not Ichigo!'_ she argued fiercely.

_Hahaha, well looks like someone's quite protective of a certain hollow. And I wasn't going to say 'monster', I was going to say emo._

'_Still…'_ she thought, and then searched around for her soul candy. She finally found it after a few minutes of searching, and popped a pill into her mouth. She came out of her gigai, and the artificial body got up and awaited orders.

"Stay here, and just lie down or something." she told it, and it nodded. Rukia was about to fly out the window when she heard voices outside Ichigo's room.

She stopped and got closer to the door so she could hear the voices better.

"-monster. I thought it was going to kill us."

"It looked like Ichigo…but Ichigo wouldn't-"

"Listen to me Yuzu! Ichigo's changed! Haven't you noticed! Ever since that dark-haired girl came around, he's been acting weird. And he's always running off somewhere with her too!"

"But Dad said-"

"I don't care what Dad said! We both know that's not the real reason why!" Karin said angrily, and Rukia realized that something must've happened between the siblings to cause all this. She opened the door, and stepped out.

Karin and Yuzu turned around and stared at her.

"Rukia, what are you-" Yuzu started to say, but Rukia just shook her head.

"I'm guessing that you two saw Ichigo as an arrancar?" she asked, and the girl's looked at each other.

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'arrancar', but what we saw sure as hell wasn't the Ichigo I knew before you showed up." Karin glared at the girl. It didn't really bother Rukia because she knew that the girl had every right to be furious with her.

"I have quite a bit of explaining to do." the shinigami sighed, and started to tell the girls about everything that had happened from when she first met Ichigo up until now. She left out some parts in her story, and skipped a few things, but when she finished, the girls now understood everything they heard and saw that night.

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Yuzu broke it with a soft crying. Rukia wanted to comfort the girl, but she knew she couldn't do that.

"I…yelled at him…after…he…saved us…" Karin whispered as tears started to slide down her face as well. She felt so horrible about what she had done.

Suddenly Yuzu ran downstairs, and she returned moments later with a pencil and some paper. She put the paper against the wall, and started to write furiously on it. Karin looked over her sister's shoulders, then wiped her tears away, waited until Yuzu finished, and then she took the pencil and started writing just as Yuzu had. Rukia looked at them in confusion, and didn't understand what they were doing.

Finally, Karin finished writing, and then folded up the paper and handed it to Rukia.

"Here, you said you were going to find Ichigo, weren't you?" she asked

Rukia nodded, still not understanding what this was.

"Well…then…when you see him, give this letter to him. It's a note apologizing for what we said and did, and asking him to come home. I know my brother has changed, but I also know that he's going to be just as stubborn as ever, and that you might need our help to convince him to come back, even if we can't be there." she said

Rukia nodded, and tucked the letter in her shihakusho, where it would be safe. She walked back into Ichigo's room, and took off through the window, following traces of Ichigo's reiatsu.

Karin and Yuzu watched the shinigami leap gracefully into the night, and blend in as if she were a part of it. Karin suddenly realized that there were larger forces at work here, forces that she might never be able to comprehend with. But all that mattered to her now was seeing Ichigo come back home, regardless of the fact that he was a hollow now, because no matter what, one fact still remained.

He was still her older brother.

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Rukia concentrated on Ichigo's reiatsu signature, and shunpoed as fast as she could. The reiatsu trail seemed to be growing weaker and weaker, until it stopped altogether.

Rukia felt around, but couldn't sense anything except for a few souls in this lonelier, more closed off section of Karakura town. She looked around and saw nothing. Maybe she went off the trail…or…

No.

She refused to think that he would've gone into Hueco Mundo, though there always was a slight possibility…

Rukia kept searching, until she gave up after a half-hour of going around in circles over the same spot.

'_I've wasted too much time there. Who knows where Ichigo will be now?'_ she thought, and shunpoed back to where the trail and begun to grow weaker. She tried following all other traces of reiatsu, but always came to a dead end.

Rukia didn't want to give up. She'd rather not back to the Kurosaki clinic at all rather than come back empty-handed and without Ichigo.

Just as Rukia was about to retrace the reiatsu trails, she felt a very small spike of reiatsu. Ichigo's reiatsu.

She dashed off in the direction that it came from, only focusing on that one place where it had come from. When she got there, she excitedly caught a glance of orange hair.

Rukia landed in a small park that looked like it had been through a hurricane. The place was completely torn up. Just as Rukia turned aroundand felt his spiritual pressure as if he were standing right next to her, it suddenly vanished.

Panicking, she turned around, searching until her eyes caught sight of something large and black, like a huge gaping throat waiting to swallow her up.

A Garganta.

Rukia stared at it, but blinked when it started to close up. She knew that Ichigo _must've_ gone though it…and that now he was…

Rukia watched as it slowly started to close up. This might be her only chance to bring back Ichigo. Even if she did go into another Garganta, who knows where she'd end up in the land of hollows. She heard that a few hundred years ago, an expedition team was sent through a Garganta to collect information about Hueco Mundo and what it was like. They never returned.

Rukia shuddered at the thought of going into the world of monsters alone, but then she remembered she wouldn't really be alone, just as long as she found Ichigo.

_Or if Ichigo finds you and you're still in one piece. If you don't have the resolve for this, then don't go. You'll be crushed if you do._ ,her zanpakuto warned.

Rukia watched the Garganta. It would close any minute now, sealing off her last hope of finding the arrancar.

'_But I have to do this. I have to try. How can I even think of doing this if I can't even try? I know Ichigo would do the same for me…and he's saved my life so many times. So I must.'_

_Ah…_

Rukia shunpoed through the black portal just as it closed. And then she nearly fell into a dark abyss.

_This isn't like the Senkaimon Rukia! You have to focus your reiatsu under your feet to create a pathway to walk on!_ ,her zanpakuto shouted in her mind.

Rukia quickly generated reiatsu from her feet, and formed a pathway, though something felt a little odd about it, as if she were walking on something else. Almost as if she were walking on snow.

_It's just like your reiatsu, which is different from everyone else's, so it will feel different too. Your reiatsu is cold and feels like ice and snow. Ichigo's reiatsu felt dark and heavy…_ her zanpakuto trailed off when she started to talk about Ichigo.

_I really did like Zangetsu. Even for an arrancar's zanpakuto, he was quite nice. Handsome too. Nothing like that rude, ugly ass baboon-snake of a sword named Zabimaru._ ,her zanpakuto said wistfully as Rukia approached an opening in the Garganta. She jumped out, and landed on soft white sand.

Rukia blinked several times and looked around. She was in something that could've resembled a forest-if forests were made out of large, crystallized rocks that stuck up at the sky like needles. Rukia slowly took in her surroundings, observing the black, starless night sky, and the white moon that hung above it. Now she knew why veteran shinigami called the crescent moon a 'hollow moon'.

'_Is it always like this? Is all of Hueco Mundo a desert?'_ she wondered as she looked around. Rukia felt around for Ichigo's spiritual pressure, and found very faint traces of it. Just as she started to walk in that direction, she turned to the north for some odd reason.

Rukia had no idea how she missed it, but to the north, in the distance, there was a huge white castle-like structure. She wondered what it could be.

_Maybe that's where all the hollows live.'_ she guessed, and started to take off in the direction that Ichigo had been going in, when she heard a scuffling sound.

Rukia's hand flew to her zanpakuto as she whirled around to face a shadow amongst the rocks.

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Ulquiorra Schiffer walked along the white tiled floors of Las Noches. That's when he saw a pathetic half-dead snake-like hollow, not even of Menos class, slither out of the shadows.

"_Please…you must…tell L-Lord Aizen. I found a V-Vasto Lo-Lorde class arrancar in the world of th-the living. It was in Karakura…town." _it hissed weakly, and coughed up blood, staining the white floor red.

"Show me." Ulquiorra demanded. Lord Aizen would be pleased if he found another powerful hollow or arrancar. They only needed one more to complete the Espada.

The hollow nodded weakly, and slithered through a Garganta that it had opened up. Ulquiorra followed it, and the finally came out to the world of the living, in a small park. It looked as if most of it had been demolished, and a only a few structures were left standing. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Ulquiorra felt strong traces of a powerful reiatsu. He wasn't exactly sure if it was a Vasto Lorde, because of all the other small, insignificant, trash-like spiritual pressures that had been left behind. From what Ulquiorra could tell, a huge battle between hundreds of lowly, trashy hollows must've taken place here. But they weren't fighting each other, no, they were fighting something very powerful.

Ulquiorra felt around more, and then extended his Pesquisa into the surrounding area by placing his hand lightly on the ground. He felt remnants of the same reiatsu and was now sure of one thing.

This arrancar _was_ a Vasto Lorde, nearly as powerful as himself.

Though all this time, the snake-hollow had been growing impatient.

"_Are you done? Can we go back now, so that Lord Aizen will reward me for my faithfulness…"_

Ulquiorra said nothing as he got up and brushed himself off. The hollow was starting to make sounds of protest and it was annoying him. Trash.

"I'm going back to report this to Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra said, without looking at the hollow. It screeched and writhed in anger.

"_So you can take all the credit?! Stupid Espada!"_ it hissed angrily, baring its broken fangs.

Ulquiorra opened a Garganta, and the hollow started to follow him.

"Don't. Lord Aizen does not require a piece of trash such as yourself slithering in Las Noches." Ulquiorra said. The snake hollow, who had enough of the stupid Espada, jabbed its masked face in the Espada's face. It hissed angrily.

"_I was the one who discovered the arrancar, so I-" _

The hollow never got a chance to finish, because Ulquiorra destroyed its head with a bala.

"Trash." he muttered as the snake hollow's dissolving form fell into the abyss of dark energy. He walk back to Las Noches, and when he came out through the Garganta, he was in front of the throne room.

A blue haired arrancar was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed when Ulquiorra came. As soon as his feet touched the floor, the blue haired Espada opened his eyes.

"Hey Ulquiorra. Where the hell did you come from? The world of the living?" the arrancar said snidely. Ulquiorra didn't seem to hear his comment, because he just asked a question.

"Where is Lord Aizen and Lady Kendai?"

"Lord Aizen…is in there, and Kendai's with him. I was just waiting for Kendai." the arrancar said.

"So why the hell do you wanna know?"

"This is none of your concern Grimmjow."

"If it involves Kendai I think it's plenty of my concern."

"You're are not Lady Kendai's guardian or relative."

"And neither are you, but you're with her 24/7."

"And therefore I am forced to stay in your company too."

"Why you little ba-"

Grimmjow never got a chance to finish the sentence because at that moment, both doors to the throne room swung open, knocking the two arrancars into a wall. Standing there, in the large doorway was a small, brunette shinigami with bright green eyes, slightly pale skin, and an angry expression on her face.

"Would you two stop bickering like three-year olds for a minute. We can hear you quite clearly." she sighed, and then looked around.

"Ulqui? Grimmy?" she turned her head from side to side, looking for the missing arrancar.

"Where the hell did they go?" she frowned, and then looked down the hall. There was no one in sight. Kendai sighed, and closed the door again. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra fell out of the crater-like holes made in the wall.

"Damn she's strong-"

"Grimmjow?!" suddenly the doors flew open again, sending the Espada into the wall. Again.

"God, I could've sworn I heard Grimmjow's voice." the small shinigami said, and closed the doors again after looking around.

Grimmjow growled as his face hit the white floor.

"She better not open the goddamn door again!" Grimmjow roared.

The door swung open again, hitting the Espada and knocking them into the wall once more.

"That is odd. I know I heard Ulquiorra talking before." Aizen said to his daughter, who was standing by his side.

Suddenly, a pale hand broke through the door, and then, and arm, a shoulder, a body and face…

Ulquiorra somehow managed to land gracefully on the floor, where as Grimmjow just fell face-first.

"Lord Aizen, Lady Kendai." he bowed to them, "I have a message to deliver."

"What sort of message, Ulquiorra?" Aizen asked, raising one eyebrow.

Ulquiorra looked up at them and said "A message concerning a lone Vasto Lorde in Karakura town."

________________________________________________________

**AN: **Hm, well this wasn't very long, but I hoped you enjoyed it anyway. Yes, I know Ichigo's emoness has become contagious. Oh noes. Well, it won't be angsty forever, really, it was just in this chapter and that's pretty much it. Decided to leave you guys with a little cliffy, but you might already be able to guess who it is. And no, it's not Ulquiorra, Kendai, or…well, if I told you anything else I might spoil it for you, and we wouldn't want that, now would we! XD anyway, as always…DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW, REVIEWING IS LIKE………………………………………AIR, ITS NEEDED TO SURVIVE!


	8. Chappy 8

**Disclaimer:** I hate doing this…oh well. I don't own Bleach…

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Rukia's hand flew to her zanpakuto as she whirled around to face the shadow among the rocks. It crept out into the light hollow moon, revealing a fearsome looking…thing that resembled a hollow.

"Are you a hollow?" Rukia asked fiercely as she drew out her sword and prepared to use kido. The thing just stared at her unblinkingly. It was wearing something like a cape of fur or straw, with hollow masks on it, and it wore a mask on its face, yet it appeared vaguely humanoid.

"Well, answer me!" she demanded

The thing still didn't move, but just watched her. She wondered if it was laughing quietly under its mask at her, but then she pushed that thought aside. How stupid would that be?

"Are you just going to watch me? Are you going to attack?" she asked, and it still didn't respond nor move. If she hadn't known better, she would've thought it was a statue. Maybe it was.

"Can you even hear me? My-name-is-RUKIA-KUCHIKI. RU-KI-A KU-CHI-KI." she said loudly and slowly. She waited a few moments. It said/did nothing.

"I-AM-LOOK-ING-FOR-SOME-ONE-CAN-**YOU**-HELP-ME-FIND-HIM?" she said, and made motions with her hands. The thing still did nothing.

"WHO-ARE-YOU?" she asked. Nothing.

"I'LL-CALL-YOU-UGLY." she said.

"…I'll call you Bitch then." it said, and she blinked rapidly in shock. Did it just talk?

"What…did you say? Did you just-"

"My name isn't ugly, it's Ashido. You said your name was Kuchiki, right? Teh, you nobles never change, always looking down on everyone…"

"Wait, wait, wait. A few minutes ago you were just staring at me, not saying a word while I made a fool of myself, and now we're carrying on with an actual conversation?!" she said angrily. Even if she was in the middle of Hueco Mundo, she still had her pride to consider, even if it was just a bunch of dumb hollows that had seen her act like an idiot.

"I wouldn't really call this a conversation, but whatever. That's your business Kuchiki." it shrugged.

"So…_are_ you a hollow?" she asked

"What difference does it make to you if I am?" it said.

"I was just wondering." Rukia said

"…No, I'm not exactly a hollow. Though I can tell you're a shinigami. So what is a lone, noble, female shinigami doing in Hueco Mundo? Did you say you were looking for someone?"

"Uh yeah. Did you by any chance see a orange haired-"

"Arrancar with a blood stained jacket and hakama? His name was Ichigo, right? And you're the shinigami who made him like that?" it guessed.

"Y-Yeah! How did you know all that?" she asked.

"Well, spiky head came here looking pretty troubled, and that's when he picked up my reiatsu signature. I hadn't see an arrancar come around here yet, so I asked him why he was here, and he told me about you. After a while, he started talking some more and pretty soon he told me just about everything." it said.

"Oh…" Rukia didn't know what else to say as she looked down at her feet.

"…He went westward. And he was just walking too, not using sonido, so if you use your shunpo you should be able to find him." it said after a while, and when Rukia looked up, she was shocked to see it had removed its mask. The 'it' was a redheaded guy. His hair color painfully reminded her of Renji. He actually wasn't bad looking, except his eyes were like a hollow's. Rukia wondered if he was an arrancar like Ichigo.

"…Ashido…are you an arrancar like Ichigo?" she asked. She was just curious.

"I used to be a shinigami…but being in this place, surrounded by hollows has changed me. I've been warped into something not shinigami, not hollow, and not arrancar. I'm something else…something…different. When I was a shinigami, I was a seated member in the eighth division…until a horde of hollows banded together and attacked Soul Society. We managed to defeat most, but the survivors went back into Hueco Mundo. We chased them, but when we arrived here, we were outnumbered badly. All of my friends died…and I was the sole survivor. I managed to kill the hollows that slaughtered my friends, and their masks are all that remain." he said, and held up the masks.

"I stayed here to kill more hollows so that there would be less in the human world."

"L-LESS???" Rukia asked skeptically, "And how long have you been here?!"

"Maybe a few centuries or so." Ashido shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"But…if anything, there have only been _more_ hollows in Karakura town." she said

"…Really?" Ashido asked, and hung his head, disappointed that his efforts had been in vain. Rukia could understand if someone might try to take on a feat, but only with several other seated shinigami, and she would only stay for a few months at most. Poor Ashido had been here fighting hollows for most of his life.

"Hey…why don't you come with me? If you like, after I find Ichigo, you could go back to the Soul Society with me since I was planning on returning soon and then coming back to Karakura again." she suggested lightly

Ashido looked at her as if she were stupid.

"_Go back to Soul Society?_ Kuchiki, do you have any idea what would happen to me if I did?"

Rukia shook her head.

"I'd be used as a test subject! I'm not an arrancar, hollow, or shinigami. Hell, I'm not even a Vizard! The twelfth division would have a field day with me, and they'd keep testing and experimenting on me until I finally died or until I was no longer of any use! I'm way better off here in Hueco Mundo than in Soul Society!" he said, and humorlessly laughed.

Rukia realized he was right. That, and he had spent so much time alone here, being around people again might not feel right. And even if Captain Kurotsuchi didn't get his hands on Ashido, he would be considered an outcast by the other shinigami. No squad in Soul Society would want him, except for the twelfth division, and that would only be for studying.

Ashido was truly alone. And no one could help him. He would forever be an outcast until the day he died, and even then, who would remember him? He would only be remembered as a monstrous freak, not a hollow or a shinigami. Not an arrancar…or a…whatever he said.

The hellish truth of his fate and existence came crashing down on Rukia like an avalanche.

"No…that's…" she breathed. She almost couldn't accept the fact that he would be forever damned like this.

"I'm sorry Rukia, but there's nothing you can do for me. Go find Ichigo." he said softly, and donned his mask again. He started to draw back into the shadows when Rukia yelled "Wait!".

The gazelle-like hollow mask looked up at her.

"Please Ashido…when I go back to Soul Society, I'll bring shinigami reinforcements here so we can bring you back. I'm sure you must have friends who stayed behind in the Seireitei and survived after all these years. Please, stay here so we can find you again." Rukia said

"…" he said nothing.

"Please Ashido…I want to help you, and not just by leaving you here. Even if all of your friends in the Seireitei are gone, I'll still be there for you." she said softly.

"…Fine then, Rukia Kuchiki. I'll hold you to your word and wait for you." he said, before vanishing back into the depths of the forest. Rukia watched the place where he had disappeared before turning to the west and setting off. She could tell which way was west, because Ashido had pointed in that direction. Without him, she would've been hopelessly lost in this godforsaken, hellish white desert of hollows.

'_Stupid hollows and their stupid desert. Why the hell did Hueco Mundo have to be a desert anyway!? Why couldn't it be a tundra, or cold and snowy. NNNNOOOOOOOOOO. It had to be a BIG-STUPID-SANDY-WHITE-DESERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'_ Rukia thought angrily as white sand got into her socks and under her sandals. She swore silently that if she ever saw another desert again, she'd freeze it over.

________________________________

Ichigo sat on a rock just about a mile away from the huge structure the hollows called 'Las Noches'. Las Noches was a huge white castle-like fortress, comprised of towers and buildings as well. He heard that they had an artificial sun over there.

Ichigo sighed as he thought of the events that had happened in the last few hours. The incident at the park with the hollows, his sister, and Chad, Rukia looking at him as if he were freak. Coming to realize that he was nothing more than a bloodthirsty monster. That he was a freak.

'**Ah, c'mon King, at least we're in Hueco Mundo, surrounded by our own kind! Besides, I'm sure your sisters will forget about everything they saw last night by the morning. You know how humans are-they forget everything. Especially by the morning.**' Shiro said encouragingly.

_Ichigo…maybe…Shiro…is……………right? I…maybe Rukia can just wipe all their memories._ , Zangetsu said, trying to cheer Ichigo up too. But it was all in vain.

Rukia. The way she looked at him…was almost as bad as the way his sisters had acted. Ichigo sniffed slightly, feeling a fresh wave of tears come on. He missed Rukia sssooooo much. Rukia…he could almost hear her voice, shouting his name…

Wait! _Was_ that Rukia's voice?!

'_No, I'm probably just hearing things.'_ he thought, and hung his head when he heard her voice stop. Though it returned again, only louder this time.

'_Why does my mind have to torture me so!? It's bad enough that I already have two voices in my head, not counting my conscious.'_ he thought bitterly.

"ICHIGO!!!" someone screamed in his ear. Or at least it sounded like that. The next second, he was knocked off his rock and fell on the white sand. Slightly dazed and surprised from the impact, it took him a few seconds to realize he had something on top of him. Or more specifically, someone.

"Rukia! How did you get here! Why are you here?" he asked, but literally froze when he saw her face.

'**Um…King? I don't think the shinigami is too happy…she looks CRAZY. Like…bitchy-crazy. The really BAD kind of crazy you want to avoid. Like, look up crazy in the dictionary and see a picture of her strangling you and-**'

_I think he gets it! Now Ichigo, shinigami aren't very dangerous creatures, and with the right choice of words you may be able to get out of this alive._ ,Zangetsu said slowly.

"Ichigo…Kurosaki…" Rukia breathed, brining her face within an inch of his. Her breath, touch, and body all felt cold and frosty, like ice.

"Rukia…what a pleasant surprise." he said, tugging at her hands holding onto his neck. Damn, she was strong.

'**We're dead.**'

"PLEASANT?! _PLEASANT?!_ THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME YOU STUPID IDIOT??? AFTER I WANDERED AROUND THIS GODDAMNED DESERT, LOOKING FOR _YOU_, THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY???????? LOOK!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed and held up her sandals and socks. Sand was pouring out of them.

Ichigo flinched as the air around them steadily grew colder and the temperature dropped rapidly.

"Um…" the arrancar wasn't sure what to say.

"Ugh! You're so impossible! And I got here through a Garganta that you left open." she said, finally calming down. She flopped down onto the sand beside him, and blew at the bang between her eyes for a moment, before sighing.

'**Women…I swear…**'

_Your being sexist Shiro. Just because Rukia is acting a certain way doesn't mean it has anything to do with her gender._

'**You're just saying that because you like Sode no Shirayuki.**'

_W-WH-WHAT??? N-no! I'm not shallow like you!_

'…**Riiiiiight.**'

"I came here to bring you back. And here, read this. It's for you." she said as she pulled a folded note out of her shihakusho.

Ichigo took it, and unfolded it. He started to read aloud.

"_Dear Ichigo, I want you to know that I'm sorry. I was scared when you saved me from the hollow, and I was scared after too, but I know that's not an excuse for how I acted. Rukia explained to us what everything that's happened, and about hollows, shinigami, and everything else. I had no idea that you were dealing with this on top of going to school and everything else in your life. I still love you, and you're still my big brother who always watched out for me, regardless if you're a hollow or not. Tonight was another example of how you saved me, and that you'll always be there for me. So please come back, Ichigo. I'm sorry and I love you.-Yuzu"_

He paused. Her words were so kind, and gentle that he could actually imagine her telling him that in person. He remembered the time after mom died, when Yuzu was crossing the street and nearly got hit by a car. Ichigo had pushed her out of the way. He also remembered the time a bunch of bullies picked on her, and it was he who scared them off. He saw that there was more to the note, and started reading again.

"_Dear Ichigo, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I did and said to you tonight, and for the way I acted. I love you even though you're a hollow, and I was wrong to call you a monster. You saved Yuzu, your friend, and me. You saved us all, and I just shouted at you. I feel so horrible about it, and I just want you to come back now. I can never tell you how many times I'm sorry, but please come back. Eventually Dad will realize you're gone, Yuzu will be really sad all the time, and I won't have a big brother any more. We'll lose another part of our family if you don't come back. It will almost be like losing Mom again. I don't want that to happen just because I was being stupid and mean to you. I know you can take care of yourself…but who'll take care of us when you're gone? I've never really thought about it, but you were always the mature one really, the one looking out for us the most. I mean, I know we still have Dad, and Yuzu does all the housework, but it was never the same after Mom died. I don't want things to change like that again because of me. I want you to come back home because we love you and we need you. So please, come back before Dad does something really stupid and sets him, or the clinic, on fire while trying to cheer us up by making us a cake or something.-Karin"_

Ichigo smiled weakly as tears slid down his face, only this time they weren't really out of sadness.

"Ichigo." Rukia said softly. He looked at her, and just then remembered that she was still there.

"Your family…they're…really great. They love you a lot and miss you too. You're really lucky to have such an amazing family who cares about you so much. I was left on the streets when I was born, and only survived by banding together with some kids who became my friends. They all died except for one, who became a shinigami with me, but lately, we haven't gotten along so well." she looked down at the sand

"My adoptive brother, Byakuya, hates me. He must. He probably thinks of me as a burden too. You see, a long time ago, when I was still in the Academy, Byakuya Kuchiki adopted me as his little sister, and into the noble Kuchiki family. The Kuchiki family is one of the four most powerful noble families in all of Soul Society, and so I have the privileges of both a noble and a shinigami…but…Kuchiki isn't my real name. I was adopted because my brother, who is the head of the house, had a wife who I strongly resemble. She's…passed on, but other than that, he must only think of me as a burden. To be honest, I never really like Byakuya. He was always so cold and uncaring, yet he wouldn't let me become a seated member in fear of the danger I would be put in if I did become a seated member. He really must not care what happens to me. He's never said 'I love you' or 'Good morning little sister'. It always 'Don't act rash Rukia' and 'Don't tarnish our family name' and 'Don't make me regret taking you in'." her voice now shook slightly, but she stopped and took a few deep breaths.

"I never really had a family. I guess that's why I'm trying to tell you to be thankful that you have one that cares for you so much. Your mother may be dead Ichigo, but she died to protect _you_ out of a selfless act of love and courage. You may not have had much time with your mom, but be happy that you had time with her at all. I'll never know who my maternal parents are, nor have a family like yours to call my own. I'll always be a _Kuchiki._" she said the word Kuchiki with distaste.

Ichigo stared at Rukia, and realized that she must've had a pretty hard life. She had gone though many hardships, and one of them was being isolated from everyone.

"Hey, midget. If you ever feel like ditching Byakuya and his noble house, you're welcome to stay with us. But be warned, things can get a bit crazy as you might already know." he said, and smiled as he put a hand on her head.

"Thanks." she said, and smiled back. They both got up out of the sand, and Ichigo opened up a Garganta. For the first time that day/night, he felt…content.

"Hey Ichigo." Rukia said

"Yeah?"

"…I want you to know that I don't think of you as a monster, or just a mindless hollow. And if you ever did lose control of yourself I'd never stab you. I'd beat some sense into you with my sketch book." she said, smirking.

"Sure, whatever." Ichigo said, rolling his eyes, but then he looked at her again and smirked too.

"What?" she demanded

"Oh nothing…except…" he scooped her up before she could even blink, "You'd have to catch me first!" he laughed, and continued to grin.

"H-Hey! Let go!" she said, and playfully struggled in his grip.

"Hm…maybe I'll let you go…if you…" he trailed off, thinking about what he was going to say.

"If I do what?" she demanded

"If you stay a little longer in Karakura town. I'll miss you when you leave." he said, a little saddened by the fact that she would have to return to Soul Society.

"Even if I did go back, I'd only stay for a little while and then come back to Karakura." she said

"Really?" he asked, looking at her in surprise.

"Yes really, Ichigo. I can hardly turn my back on you for just a few hours before you do something stupid. I'll have to go through the Senkaimon, and then go back after staying five minutes in the Seireitei." she said sarcastically.

"Oh whatever midget." he said.

"You know your reiatsu feels kind of like a shadow, right?"

"What?! How can you even 'feel' a shadow? It's something you see, not feel or touch!"

"Well, I say it feels like a shadow!" she argued

"And your reiatsu feels like ice!" he said

"That's because it's elemental!" she shouted as the Garganta closed, and they started to bicker again.

______________________________________________

**Las Noches-Control room**

"Well, well, well. It seem as if Rukia found herself a boyfriend." a sliver haired shinigami chuckled, and replayed the last scenes of their argument.

So the arrancar took a little field trip into Hueco Mundo and came close to Las Noches, eh? Aizen might want to hear about this.

____________________________________________________

**AN:** yay…I'm done with this chappy! And Ichigo isn't emo anymore cuz' Rukia cheered him up(sort of)and his sisters apologized! And then I can write up a big mushy reunion between brother and sisters…and then we move on with the story. Btw, we haven't heard or seen from Uryu or Orihime, so I should probably put them in the next chapter! And sorry if Ashido seemed OOC, or Rukia and Ichigo did too…but Ichigo DOES get depressed in the anime/manga sometimes…especially when Rukia is gone. Also, I know Ashido is still a shinigami in the anime, but I thought 'Well, aside from being alone, living in the world of the hollows must've had SOME kind of effect on him.' and so now in the fic he's part hollow because of it :3 and no, he's not a Vizard or an arrancar either…something right in between…so yeah. DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!! Ending poem time!

There once was a reader named Tama

Who lived in the Bahamas

But because Tama did not review

He fell

Into a well

And was raped by zombies that lived in the well, and then cut up into little pieces and fed to the zombies pet dog for dinner

So review unless you wanna end up like Tama!


	9. Chappy 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

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Kendai was sitting on a rock watching Ulquiorra and Grimmjow spar.

For some odd reason, _they_ often stuck together. Even if Ulquiorra and Grimmjow could never agree on anything, they were always with her. She thought that maybe her father was worried about her safety and thus ordered two Espada to follow her around Las Noches.

'_After all, he's probably worried about me ending up like Mom.'_ she thought as she watched Grimmjow go flying into a sand dune. Currently, in their little match, Ulquiorra was winning.

Grimmjow got up growling, and fired a cero in retaliation. Which Ulquiorra dodged of course.

As the shinigami watched the arrancar fight, she tried to recall why they had started fighting. Something about…hm…oh yeah, Grimmjow had said that Ulquiorra didn't deserve to be number four, and started to annoy him about it. Finally Ulquiorra had gotten fed up with Grimmjow, and fired a cero at him. Which was odd since Ulquiorra usually wasn't provoked that easily.

She was about to call out to them since their fight was starting to effect some nearby buildings in a not-so-good-way(aka decimating them, something her father hated), when someone's hand clamped on her mouth and their arm snaked around her waist. She sat there for a minute, trying to figure out who would do this, when the person spoke.

"Hm, their going a bit overboard with this little fight, don't ya think?" Gin asked, grinning at her. He picked her up, and opened up a Garganta, and then stepped through it.

Ulquiorra looked away from Grimmjow, and over at the rock where Lady Kendai had been sitting. She wasn't there anymore. He couldn't feel her spiritual pressure anymore either. Ulquiorra was about to tell Grimmjow to stop when he felt a fierce kick hit him in the stomach, winding him and sending him flying back into one of the nearest structures.

He got up after a minute, and saw Grimmjow laughing manically above him.

"Hey Kendai! Did you see that-" the arrancar looked over at the spot where the shinigami had been. She wasn't there.

"…Hey…where'd she go?" he asked, looking around. Ulquiorra brushed himself off and looked at Grimmjow. How could he not notice such a thing?

"She's gone." Ulquiorra said

"Huh? Wait…you mean she…"

"…She what?"

"SHE DITCHED US!!!" Grimmjow roared, and grabbed Ulquiorra by the collar. It was so sudden and random that even he didn't see it coming, and was forced to stay in that uncomfortable position.

"Let go of me, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said, and struggled to get out of the blue haired arrancar's grip.

"What so _you_ can ditch me too and go off looking for her?! No way! We're gonna find her together!" he yelled as he stormed off, dragging Ulquiorra with him.

_________________

_**Somewhere else in Las Noches, very, very, VERY far away…**_

"So Gin, why have you summoned us here?" Aizen asked. He was feeling a bit impatient today, though of course he wouldn't let it show…

"Well, I just thought ya might like to see this." Gin said, and pressed a few buttons on one of the panels in the control room. On the screen, a girl with dark hair appeared, being carried bridal style by a spiky orange haired teen. In the background were the familiar white sands of Hueco Mundo, and something else. Something that was directly behind them in the distance.

Las Noches.

"So ya see this arrancar…" Gin paused for a moment, as if thinking, and then, "Ichigo _Kurosaki_ has already been in Hueco Mundo, and he took darling Rukia with him."

"…" Aizen didn't say anything, but Tosen started asking questions like when it happened and in what sector…

Though Kendai wasn't interested in the arrancar at all, it was the person that he was holding that got her attention.

She watched the other three shinigami talk about what to do, and was able to slip away unnoticed. Well, to a degree.

As she was walking towards her room, her father appeared right in front of her.

"What were you planning on doing Kendai?" he asked, looking at her questioningly

"Um…"

'_Damn my dad is fast!'_

…_And you JUST figured that out?_ , Okami asked dryly

'_NO! …I just…didn't know he was _that _fast. He's better at shunpo than Soi Fon!'_

…_Duh._

"Um…I…was going to my room." she said nervously. Well, it was the truth, so technically she wasn't lying or anything.

Her father studied her for a moment, and then smiled.

"Okay then. I just get worried about you sometimes, especially when Ulquiorra or Grimmjow aren't with you." he said, hugging her. Her dad was the REALLY over protective kind of father. It annoyed her sometimes, but she guessed it couldn't be helped.

"Right…I was just feeling a little tired and um…I think I'll just go lay down or something. Um, or just read a book or do something like that." that wasn't really a lye…she said 'read a book or do something like that' and going to the world of the living was kind of like reading a book. Right?

"You're not sick are you?" he asked sharply. Oh yeah. He was the over protective type.

"Oh no, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." she said, and then started to walk away. As soon as she got to her room, she locked the door and sighed.

"That was a close one." she muttered.

_Does my dad really know EVERYTHING that goes on in Las Noches?'_ she wondered

_No. We know he doesn't because he doesn't have a clue about all those dirty magazines and erotic manga novels under your bed._ , Okami snickered. Kendai blushed slightly. She wasn't a pervert. She was just…a…bit curious was all!

_Isn't that the definition of a pervert?_ , Okami asked

'_Shutup._' she thought, and walked over to her closet. She riffled through the mostly white clothing, until she found her old shihakusho, which she had kept even after defecting from the Soul Society.

She pulled it out, and after inspecting it and looking for rips, tears, or bloodstains, she found it free of all those and still perfectly wearable.

'_So I'll go to the world of the living, find Rukia, and then chat for a while. I hope she's alright.'_ she thought as she started to take of her white arrancar jacket, and started to change back into her old shihakusho.

'_Wearing this brings back memories. I know it hasn't been that long since our defection, but still. It feels so much longer than only a few months.'_ she thought, and laid her arrancar clothing on the bed in a pile. She then went over to the door, and listened for any noise outside. There was none. She ran over to her desk, and grabbed a piece of paper, and started writing. When she finished, she folded it up and put it on her bed.

"Okay then. Let's go." she said, and raised her hand.

"In my right hand, the stone that connects the worlds. In my left hand, the blade that binds existence. The black haired shepherd. The chair of the noose. I strike the ibis when the clouds gather." she chanted softly, and a gaping black hole opened up in front of her. She took a deep breath before stepping through the Garganta. It was a good thing she had thought of leaving a note in case someone did happen to come in. Like Gin. Or Tosen. Or her dad.

"I'm in ssoooo much trouble when I get back if they find that note." she muttered as she walked on the path of her reiatsu.

______________________________

When Ichigo's feet touched the ground in front of the clinic, the door opened up and light spilled out, cutting through the darkness of the night.

"Ichigo? Is that you?" she asked

Ichigo set Rukia down and stepped closer, nodding. His eyes and voice had returned to normal, and except for his bloodstained hakama and jacket, there was no visible evidence of the earlier events that had caused most of this had happened.

"Karin…Yuzu…" he said, "I'm sorry…"

What happened next was something he didn't quite expect.

Karin ran and hugged him tightly, and Yuzu did the same. He was shocked to see that there were tears streaming down Karin's face.

"You shouldn't say that. If anyone should apologize, it's us. We were horrible to you, even after you saved us from all those monsters." she somehow kept her voice steady enough so that she didn't stutter, but he could still hear her pain. Yuzu nodded tearfully with her sister.

"P-Please Ichigo. We're s-sorry, so d-don't t-take off a-again. I w-was r-really s-scared that so-something m-might happen t-to you." Yuzu stuttered, and hugged him tighter.

Ichigo's eyes softened and he kneeled down and hugged them.

"Then I'm sorry for taking off like that and worrying you both. I promise I won't do it again." he said, and both girls nodded.

Rukia couldn't help but smile. It made her feel all mushy and happy inside. It was this kind of love and affection that she craved from Byakuya, but the chances of him cuddling her were…like…negative fifty or something! Her adoptive brother's heart was colder than dry ice, blacker than the sky in Hueco Mundo, and crueler than any hollow alive/dead. Though she was forced to respect him because of what he had done, and the fact that he was clan leader, she actually hated him. If something like this had happened, he would have brushed her off or scolded her.

'_Maybe I will take Ichigo up on his offer.'_ she thought as she turned her back on them and jumped up to the second floor and through Ichigo's window.

As soon as she got inside, she went back to her closet. She was about to get in, when her phone went off. There was another hollow. She looked down, and saw Ichigo looking off in the direction where the hollow was. He looked back up at her.

'I'll handle it.' she mouthed, and jumped out the window again, taking off. She didn't feel tired, and she didn't want Ichigo's mushy love fest/reunion with his siblings to be ruined by a stupid hollow.

She used her shunpo to get there faster, and when she arrived, she saw the hollow chasing after the soul of a small boy who appeared to be about six or five.

She was about to dive down at the hollow and split its mask in two with her zanpakuto, but someone beat her to it. Rukia blinked and cautiously approached the person, who had their back turned to her. She frowned slightly when she only saw their back, since they were now performing a Soul Burial on the child. The person had the reiatsu of a shinigami, and a strong one at that, was as tall as her and had long brown hair.

Rukia gasped when the girl turned around and smiled at her.

"Hey Rukia. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Kendai said.

_______________________________

"Where is she?!" Grimmjow roared at the serving arrancar that he was shaking.

"I-I don't know! I'm s-sorry but I d-don't know where Lady Kendai is!" she said frightfully, and tugged at his grasp.

Grimmjow scowled, and was about to blow the arrancar's head off with a cero, but Ulquiorra put a hand on his shoulder.

"We still haven't checked her room, Grimmjow." he said, and then started walking away, placing his hand in his pocket again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever emo boy. We'll go check if she's in her damn room." he muttered, tossed the arrancar aside, and followed Ulquiorra.

When they got to her room, Ulquiorra knocked on the door. Grimmjow just stared at him.

"Seriously, why don't we just go in?" he muttered

"And what if she was undressing and preparing to take a shower? Do you know what she would do to us if we just walked in? Do you know what _Lord Aizen_ and the others would do to us if they found out?" he asked. Grimmjow shuddered as he imagined the last part. He'd rather stab himself with his own zanpakuto than face Aizen's wrath.

"…Okay, so we'll knock first. But if she doesn't answer, we should just break down the wall or something." he growled. He was pretty upset about her ditching them. She had never done that! Well, except for during this one game about two weeks ago when she was acting kinda weird, and she suggested that they play hide-and-seek, and that she would hide and that the two of them would have to find her. It took them four whole days to find her, and by then she had completely forgotten about the game.

"And you don't think she, or Lord Aizen would mind if we did that? There is a door here for a reason, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said, though something in his voice suggested that he might be talking to a very stupid person. Grimmjow didn't miss that though.

"Yeah, whatever Emospada. So if you've got a freakin' answer to everything, then tell me this: How the hell are we gonna get in?" Grimmjow growled. Ulquiorra just ignored him.

"Lady Kendai, this is Ulquiorra. Permission to enter?"

"…*cricket chirp*…"

"I'm coming in now." he said, and pulled his hand out of his pocket, but he was holding something.

"A lock pick? Are you kidding me? Ulquiorra Schiffer carries a _lock pick_ in his damn pocket?!" Grimmjow twitched as he watched Ulquiorra pick the lock like an expert.

"Hey…how many times have you done this?" Grimmjow asked, getting an uneasy feeling. If Ulquiorra could pick the lock on Kendai's door, then he would probably be able to open up any and every other door in Las Noches.

"That is inconsequential, right now the only thing that matters is Lady Kendai." he said, and the door swung open seconds later. Grimmjow couldn't help but grudgingly admire Ulquiorra's work. He had picked one of the best and most complicated locks in Las Noches. It wasn't something you could break, because it had a seal of reiatsu inside and if not done the wrong way, it could probably alert Aizen of someone trying to break into his daughter's room.

Grimmjow shuddered at the thought of what would happen to the unfortunate soul who would ever have to face his wrath.

"Let's make this quick." he muttered, and closed the door behind them.

Ulquiorra ignored him, and instead went over to her bed where he saw a note. He opened it up and read it to himself.

_If you've found this note, then you came into my room without permission! And this means I haven't come back from the world of the living either…so…um…I SHOULD be back soon._

And above the letters were little drawings of a feminine looking bunny going through a black portal, coming out in a place with lots of color, and then talking to another bunny with darker, shorter hair and different colored eyes. There was also a picture of bigger bunnies coming into a room that looked similar to the one they were standing in.

He also noticed that the bunny he assumed to be Lady Kendai, was wearing a black shihakusho and not a white arrancar uniform. Something wasn't right about that.

"Hey so what'd you fin-You have GOT to be kidding me." Grimmjow said, as he looked over Ulquiorra's shoulder, and saw Kendai's note.

"She honestly expects us to understand her drawing when she's not here to explain it? It's like some kind of crappy code or something…" he muttered, but didn't expect what came next.

"I like Lady Kendai's drawing." Ulquiorra said

"…Who are you and what have you done with Ulquiorra?"

"…" Ulquiorra turned his back on Grimmjow, and started walking towards the door when his foot caught on something. Now, since he was Ulquiorra Schiffer, he didn't trip, or fall, or even stumble. He just stopped and looked down.

Sticking out from under her bed was the edge of what appeared to be a magazine, though when he picked it up and looked at it more closely, he nearly dropped it.

"What is it now?" Grimmjow asked, and looked at the magazine. His eyes widened when he realized what kind of magazine it was.

"…I had no idea she was into that kind of stuff." Grimmjow said after a few minutes of awkward silence. Ulquiorra dropped to one knee, and looked under her bed. There was a stack of similar magazines, and even a few manga novels as well. Grimmjow mimicked him.

"Oh shit. She has…all of…is this really her room?" he asked. He would have never thought that _Kendai_ of all people would have this stuff in her room. Maybe Gin, or even her dad, but _Kendai_? If anyone had told him about this, he would've said they were on crack or something and then killed them with a cero for insulting Kendai like that. He looked back over at Ulquiorra, who had an armful of magazines and a few manga novels.

"H-Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Grimmjow demanded.

"Who was the one who said we shouldn't just bust in Mr. Let's-Knock-First!? And why the hell are you even taking those!? Those are for perverts!" he yelled.

"I am confiscating these because it is inappropriate for her age level." Ulquiorra replied, and turned his back on Grimmjow.

"She's over 150. How the hell does she qualify as under age? Hell, we don't even have an age limit in Las Noches." Grimmjow muttered as he followed Ulquiorra out of her room.

"So what now?" he asked.

"First we stop by my room, and then we'll go to the world of the living and find Lady Kendai." he said. Grimmjow was about to ask why they were stopping by Ulquiorra's room first, but then he remembered what Ulquiorra was carrying. Grimmjow didn't care what Ulquiorra said, because it didn't change the fact that he was still a pervert.

_____________________

"Kendai!" Rukia gasped. A million thoughts raced through her mind and her heart beat faster. Why was the third seat of her squad here? Did Soul Society send her?

"Why…are you here?" Rukia asked

"Oh well I just came here to see you is all." the other shinigami said as she sheathed her zanpakuto.

"Wh-What? So Soul Society didn't send you?" she asked

"No, don't worry. I'm not here to take you away or for the arrancar." she said

"Wait, Ichigo-How did you know? Does Soul Society-"

"No, it's just me and a few others who know about the arrancar. And as for how I know…well, I'll explain it in a little bit. Why don't we sit down somewhere and talk. I want to know how you've been these past few months." Kendai said, and the two shinigami walked over to a bench under a tree, by a lamppost.

They talked for a very long time, until dawn, and they told each other everything. Kendai even told Rukia about the defection, and Las Noches, though Rukia just nodded and seemed to understand. They just seemed to understand most of what was said without having to ask why. It was as if they had a deep, sisterly understanding of each other.

"Did you say his last name was Kurosaki? Hm, it sounds familiar. It's almost as if I've heard that name before…" she said, but then she suddenly felt something.

'…_Damn.'_ she thought. Rukia didn't miss the powerful reiatsu either.

"What is that? It feels like Ichigo's reiatsu…only stronger." Rukia breathed. She looked back at Kendai.

"Are they the arrancars you were talking about?" she asked

"I don't know what Kendai told you, but we are arrancars, Shinigami." someone said, and the two girls looked up to see-

"Ulquiorra and Grimmjow-wait, no. Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, _Yammy, and Luppi?!_" she said skeptically. And then-

"YOU IDIOTS!!! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE OF ALL PLACES AND WHY DID YOU COME TO THE WOLRD OF THE LIVING!!!" she shouted.

"BECAUSE WE CAME TO FIND YOU!!!" Grimmjow yelled back, "That and you ditched us in the middle of sparring, you took off to the world of the living at random, and…we…found some stuff in your room." Grimmjow wasn't about to say what he and Ulquiorra had found in her room out loud.

"But that still doesn't explain why you brought-wait. Did you just say you went in my room, and went through my _personal_ things?" she growled.

"It's not really 'personal' if its sticking out from under your bed is it?" Grimmjow shot back

"We'll talk about that later. What I want to know is WHY you went into my room _without my permission_ and HOW you got in."

"We went in because we were looking for you, and Ulquiorra picked the lock. He's like some kind of expert or something. Oh, and by the way, Emospada took your 'personal' things." Grimmjow said, and smirked slightly as Ulquiorra glared at him. Served him right for taking Kendai's stuff, even if it was a bunch of…stuff…that…he'd…rather not…think about.

"Ulquiorra…really? I didn't know that he liked that kind of stuff." Kendai said, and raised an eyebrow at the fourth Espada, who was looking away, blushing very slightly. Great, know she'd always think of him as a pervert.

"I confiscated them because you're underage." he said

"…Ulquiorra…there is no age limit in Hueco Mundo." she said flatly

"I know! That's what I told him!" Grimmjow said, but stiffened. He felt something, and so did the others. One reiatsu, approaching from the east. It felt strong, and like an arrancar's. There were five, no six, different reiatsu signatures coming from the west, all very powerful, as if they were captain class…

"Hey, Lady Kendai, I think we should go now." Luppi said nervously, glancing in the direction where they felt the six reiatsu signatures coming from.

"Scared, Luppi? I guess I forgot that you're the only non-Espada arrancar that came." Yammy taunted, and Luppi opened his mouth furiously to reply, but Ulquiorra cut in.

"Lady Kendai, we must return to Las Noches now." Ulquiorra said quickly, and grabbed Kendai's wrist. She pulled away from him and the others looked at her in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?" Grimmjow demanded, "Have you gone insane?! Do you WANT Soul Society to find you?"

"No, but there's something I need to take care of with Rukia. All of you go back to Las Noches and wait for me there." she said.

None of them moved.

"What are you all waiting for!? I gave you an order!" she yelled. The arrancar shifted, and Yammy and Luppi opened a Garganta, and started to go through it. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra however, just stayed there.

"What are you two waiting for?!" she said angrily. The one time she would need them to listen to her, it had to be this time, of all times. Though she didn't hold any official rank in her father's army, she was still technically one of the shinigami superiors, like her father, Gin, and Tosen. If her father left, Gin would be in charge, since he was second in command. Tosen was third, and she was fourth.

"Well?!"

"…Lady Kendai, I refuse to leave you here alone with just this shinigami." Ulquiorra said

"For once I agree with him." Grimmjow nodded.

"Are you two forgetting that I'm your _superior_ and I won't tolerate this insubordinate attitude anymore! Bakudo nine, Geki!" she raised her hands as she called out the spell, and both arrancar were engulfed in red light, and fell to the ground, paralyzed.

She turned to Yammy and Luppi.

"You two take them back to Las Noches. Restrain them and _do not_ tell anyone what happened, no matter what. Understand?" she said sharply, and both arrancar nodded.

"Good. Then get going." she said, and turned to Rukia.

"We'll find Ichigo, and then…" Rukia trailed off, not sure what she could do next. If Soul Society found out about her illegally hiding _and_ creating an arrancar by transferring her powers to a human, she would most likely be punished by death by the Sogyoku.

"Rukia, I hate to do this, but you'll have to come to Las Noches with me. The captains on their way probably know that you were here with me and the arrancar. I'm sorry, I should've never come, but I just wanted to see you…" Kendai said anxiously, but Rukia put a hand on her shoulder.

"It doesn't matter. Soul Society would've come anyway, and if not for you, they would've caught me then. I have a chance to escape now with Ichigo. Are you ready?" she asked

"…Yeah." Kendai said, nodding. And then the two shinigami took off in the east, facing the rising sun and a new day.

___________________________

"Damnit, Damnit, DAMN!!!" Ichigo cursed aloud as he sonidoed past buildings and cars, going as fast as he possibly could. Just a while ago, he felt Rukia's reiatsu spike, and then go back to normal, but just around dawn, he had felt several powerful reiatsu signatures like his own. Their reiatsu was like his, like an arrancar's. And the worst part was that they had all appeared in the same area as where Rukia had been. He should've gone with her to fight that hollow, and then none of this would've happened…

But it was too late for that now. It was happening and all he could do was hope to get there in time. And to make matters worse, he felt six more incredibly powerful signatures approaching, coming at Rukia and the arrancars. These signatures had reiatsu in them like Rukia's. So he could only assume that they were shinigami like Rukia, though, eh suspected that they weren't as friendly.

'_It doesn't matter to me if their arrancar or shinigami. If they try to hurt Rukia, I'll tear them apart.'_ he thought viciously. But then he felt something change. It was Rukia. She was moving…towards him, and she was accompanied by someone like her, like another shinigami.

'_What does that mean?'_ he wondered. Could another shinigami be chasing her down? Could it be a very fast shinigami, one that had been sent ahead of the main group?

Ichigo stopped and tensed as he felt Rukia get closer. Any minute now, he would see her again, and this other shinigami that was with her. He got ready to fire a cero, and waited as he felt the warmth of the sun's rays on his back. It almost seemed as if for a second, they intensified, greeting Rukia and the stranger with eagerness. But it disappeared as quickly as it had come, and made Ichigo think that he had been imagining things.

He waited for Rukia. He could see her now in the distance, using shunpo, her small figure illuminated by the morning sun. She was frantically waving at him and calling his name.

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" she yelled, and finally came to a stop just inches away from him, panting. He looked her over, trying to tell if she was hurt or not. He couldn't smell any fresh blood, which was good and meant that she wasn't injured. He looked over at the other shinigami, who looked shockingly like Rukia except for her eyes which were a bright electric green, and her long brown hair which fairly straight.

He could've even sworn that they were the same height.

"Who are you? Are you from Soul Society?" he asked the new shinigami.

"Yes and no, but that's not important now. Soul Society has come to this town, probably sensing the other arrancar's reiatsu. They'll be here any minute." she said, straightening up.

Ichigo realized what kind of danger he was in, but more importantly, what kind of danger Rukia was in.

"I may not look it because I'm a shinigami…but I'm from Las Noches. Those arrancar you sensed earlier were my comrades." she said, and Ichigo got the message. He opened up a Garganta, and reached out for Rukia's hand, but only found air. He whipped around and saw a man with long black hair, wearing a shihakusho like Rukia's only with a white haori over it.

"Rukia Kuchiki. By order of Head Captain Yamamoto of the first division, you are placed under arrest for associating with traitors and for suspicious activities in the world of the living. I have been sent ahead of a group of captains that were dispatched once we picked up the reiatsu signatures of several Espada." the man said. He had his sword to Rukia's neck.

"Arrancar, do not move if you value your life…and _you._ Daughter of the traitorous snake, Aizen Sosuke, will be put to death immediately once we get back to the Soul Society." he said, and glared at Ichigo as if he were something disgusting and vile. Ichigo glared right back, and was about to draw out his zanpakuto when someone laughed. It was the brow haired shinigami that resembled Rukia.

"Really Byakuya, do you think that things will go so easy for you?" she asked, sounding amused

"I cannot see why they shouldn't." Byakuya answered icily.

"Really?" the shinigami asked.

"Yes really, traitor." he said, but looked down at Rukia when she coughed.

"…Big brother…there's always something I've wanted to tell you for a long time." Rukia said

"What is it?" he sighed.

"…I hate you."

"Why should I care-AAAHHHH!!!!!!!" Byakuya screamed as Rukia's leg came up…somewhere…and kicked him hard…in that…certain area…

Byakuya dropped his sword and fell to the ground, eyes streaming and rolling around in pain. It looked as if the captain wouldn't be having kids for awhile.

Ichigo winced, but didn't have time to feel sorry for him, because someone was pushing him through the Garganta. It was the small, Rukia-like shinigami.

"Hurry, go! I'll get Rukia." she said, and ran back over to where Rukia was standing. The dark haired girl was yelling, screaming, and kicking Byakuya, and continued to scream at him as the other shinigami dragged her away. The other captains came into view just as they stepped into the Garganta, though right before it closed, Rukia made a gesture at the captain on the ground, who was facing them. She did something no other living being had dared do before. She flipped him off.

______________________________

"Damn, that was close!" Rukia exclaimed as they came out of the other side of the Garganta. Kendai nodded, heart still pounding. She didn't want to have to fight six captains all at once, even with Rukia and Ichigo with her. Even…if one of those captains was…down, she still wouldn't want to have to fight five of them at once. If it could be avoided, she'd rather not fight them at all unless it couldn't, truly be helped.

"I think the coast is clear." Kendai said, looking around.

"Okay, we'll go back to my room, and you two can stay there until we figure out a way to explain all this without getting caught." she sighed, but then she felt someone tapping her shoulder. She looked at Rukia, who was paler than usual.

"What is it, Rukia?" she asked

"Um…Kendai…is that by any chance…um…your dad…and Gin…and Tosen…and some arrancar?" Rukia asked nervously

"Hm?" she turned around to see the three shinigami and all of the Espada, including Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. All of them were glaring at her/Ichigo and Rukia.

"…Yes." she breathed.

"And um…about the sneak-out-and-don't-get-caught-plan…um…I don't think it worked." Rukia whispered, inching closer to her. She couldn't blame her. Kendai herself was feeling quite scared now.

"And Kendai…we're…" Rukia breathed, so quietly, that even though she was right next to her, Kendai could barely here her.

"Yeah. We're screwed." she whispered back, and glanced fearfully at the shinigami and arrancar. Saying that was a HUGE understatement. She'd be lucky to get out of this with a grounding twice the number of years she'd already lived. Which was over 150.

___________________________________

**AN:** Ahahaha! I'm such a mean Authoress, aren't I? Poor Rukia and Kendai. Looks like someone was a tattletale (cof Ulqui and Grimmy cof cof). Regarding what Rukia did to Byakuya-he had it coming. But don't worry! He's not completely incapable of having children…yet, hehehe. Throwing you a bit of a cliffy when they get caught, so we'll have to wait until the next chappy to see what happens to them. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Chad, Orihime, and Uryu. Now they'll HAVE to make an appearance in the next chappy! Oh, and yeah, I know Ulqui and Grimmy wouldn't be paralyzed by a number nine bakudo spell, but I was feeling lazy and didn't want to search for a more advanced spell. And HOW does Soul Society know about the Espada? And HOW did they pick up on the arrancar so quickly, but never sensed Ichigo? These questions will be answered in the next chapter. Btw, those magazines that Ulqui found…let's just say Kendai and Lisa subscribe to the same magazine company, hehehe ;)

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!


	10. Chappy 10

**Disclaimer:** *sigh* I don't own Bleach.

___________________________

"So." Aizen said, pacing back and forth, holding aloft the note Kendai had written.

"So." he repeated, and stopped in front of Kendai, Rukia, and Ichigo.

"You lied to me, went to the world of the living without permission, and risked being captured by the Soul Society. Do you have any idea what you've done?! And how much trouble you're in?!" he said angrily

"Maybe." she muttered. She didn't really feel like standing here in front of all the Espada (who were glaring at her, except for Yammy, who was looking the other way nervously).

"MAYBE??? Don't be a smart alec with me young lady! I-"

Rukia felt sorry for Kendai. Soul Society probably wouldn't have come if it hadn't been for those stupid arrancar, or whatever Byakuya had called them. Rukia didn't feel as if Kendai deserved to take the blame. Besides, what could one trip to the world of the living do? It wasn't as if the world was going to end or anything.

"AND you refused help from the Espadas that came there because YOU went missing!" he said, waving the note angrily.

"That was very irresponsible of you, Kendai." Tosen said, shaking his head. It was almost as if Rukia could not just feel, but also share her friend's anger. This was so unfair! And why did she have to get chewed out in front of all these arrancar?!

Rukia suddenly got an idea in her head.

"Not only that, but-" Gin was now talking, but stopped when Rukia spoke up.

"Hey, Ichigo." she said, tugging at his jacket sleeve. Everyone looked at her and Ichigo, and Aizen stopped in mid-sentence.

"What?" Ichigo asked. He didn't like the way those other arrancar were staring at him. Hell, he didn't even have a clue of what was really going on, and was just standing here until someone would explain to him what he got dragged into.

Rukia said nothing, but kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the shinigami and several arrancars. Rukia then grabbed Kendai's hand, and shunpoed away down the nearest hall, taking several turns. She wasn't sure if it was the best distraction…but it was the only thing she could think of…

"Where's your room?" Rukia asked Kendai, who was still being dragged along by her

"Take a right down the next hall and then go straight!" she said. Rukia did what she was told, and stopped in front of what she assumed to be Kendai's room.

She let go of Kendai, who got up, and pushed the door open. She growled.

"Those idiots. Going in my room without my permission, picking the lock, and then 'confiscating' my magazines and novels." she said under her breath, and motioned for Rukia to follow her. Rukia did, shut the door behind her, and locked it. She wasn't sure how much good locking it would do though…since the arrancar had picked the lock…

"Stand aside for a moment Rukia. I'm going to put a seal on this side of the door, so even if the lock is picked or destroyed, the seal will still keep the door shut." Kendai said as she walked towards the door, "I don't want those idiots coming in here or busting down the door."

Rukia stepped aside, and watched as Kendai traced a circle on the door with her right hand, and then made and intricate pattern in the center with her other hand. She started to chant softly, something that sounded like a kido spell. The places where she had traced with her fingers lit up and glowed for a few moments, before the light died down. When it did, the places where she had traced were made visible by black lines that now covered them, though it faded away after a few minutes, as if it were sinking into the door.

"I'm sorry about all of this Rukia…hey…what about Ichigo?" Kendai asked, turning back to Rukia. Suddenly, she remembered Ichigo.

'_Oh yeah, I forgot about him up until now. I hope he'll be okay with those other arrancar.'_ Rukia thought.

"Hey, you know when we were in Karakura town; I sensed some unusually powerful reiatsu signatures that belonged to some humans. Actually, I noticed that a lot of the people in the town had enough spiritual pressure to see spirits, and that some even had reiatsu signatures more powerful that hollows below Menos level. Did you know any of them?" Kendai asked, while looking under her bed. She sighed and straightened up.

'_Stupid, perverted, lazy, emo, idiotic, suck-up arrancar! Damn him Ulquiorra for taking my manga novels too!'_ she thought.

"Hm? Oh, well I didn't really know them well, but there were a few friends of Ichigo who were affected by the reiatsu he leaked out constantly. It seems even as an arrancar, he had enough reiatsu to affect his surroundings, though I was with him most of the time. Though…there was a Quincy there. I think he was truly the last of his kind, though I don't know if he had any family like him." Rukia said thoughtfully.

"HEY!!! OPEN UP!!!" someone yelled, and pounded frantically on the door. It sounded like-

"Ichigo? Ichigo, is that you?" Rukia asked, running to the door

"Yes it's me! Now open up before they kill me!" he yelled

"Before who kills you?" Rukia asked, confuzled

"Just open the damn door!" he screamed. Kendai placed her hand on the door, and muttered a few words. The seal glowed, and Ichigo pushed open the door. He was panting and looked freaked out.

They closed the door again, and resealed it. Rukia watched Ichigo straighten up and look around.

"So…who was trying to kill you?" Rukia asked.

"Well, it was an arrancar I fell next to after YOU pushed me into them without any warning!" Ichigo growled

"Well…I didn't want to just stand there and let my friend get chewed out for something that wasn't her fault!" Rukia snapped

"Ichigo…did the arrancar by any chance have blue hair? And blue eyes?" Kendai asked, interrupting the beginning of another one of their married-couple-like-fights.

"Huh? Yeah, how did you…"

"I thought Grimmjow would probably do something like that." she muttered, shaking her head.

"Grimmjow? Was that his name?" Ichigo asked

"Yeah. He was the sixth Espada. The one with long brown hair was Stark, and he's number one, then there's Barragan, the old-ish looking guy. He's number two. Halibel was the one with blond hair, and she's number three. Then there's Ulquiorra, the emo looking one, Nnoitra, the one who looks like a spoon, Grimmjow, Szayel, the arrancar with pink hair, Nel, the one with green hair, and Yammy, the oversized oaf. Though Szayel is actually the eighth Espada, because there's a gap between six and eight. We don't have a seventh…anymore." she explained

"…What does anymore mean? I don't like the sound of that." Ichigo said, getting an uneasy feeling

"Oh well…there…was sort of………………an accident."

"…Hey…what's your name shinigami?"

"Kendai Sosuke. Maybe as you can already tell, I'm Aizen Sosuke's daughter-"

_Beep, beep, beep._

"What the…hey Rukia, is that your Soul Pager?" Ichigo asked, "Why the hell would have it turned on in a place like this?"

"I don't have the hollow detecting application turned on…so it must mean someone's calling me." Rukia said, and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Rukia! Rukia, is that you?! Do you know where Ichigo is?" Karin asked, and in the background, Rukia could hear someone crying. It sounded like Yuzu.

"Karin? Ichigo is here with me, don't worry, he's okay-"

"Other shinigami have come to the clinic. Their asking where you and Ichigo are and Dad's acting weird. I don't know what's happening!"

"What? Other shinigami…Karin…they…"

"YUZU!!! NO, LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!!!" Karin screamed from the other side of the line, and it sounded as if the phone was being dropped. Then everything went quiet.

"Karin? Karin?! Karin, answer me!"

"_We're sorry. If you would like to call again-"_ Rukia snapped her Soul Pager shut and looked at Ichigo.

"Who was it?" he asked

"Karin…" Rukia said. Karin had said that 'other shinigami' came. What did that mean? Was Soul Society really going to try to use them as bait for Ichigo? Would they really be so ruthless?

"Yeah? How'd she get your number? I didn't know you could make calls on that thing."

"I gave it to her before I left to find you earlier. I gave it to her so she could call in case of an emergency." she said, looking down at her feet.

"In case of…Rukia, what did she say? Tell me what she said."

"…She said that other shinigami had come to the clinic." Rukia whispered, closing her eyes. She knew what would happen next.

"Bakudo 63, Sajo Sabaku!"

Rukia opened her eyes, and looked up from her feet to see Ichigo by the door, on the ground. She realized that he had been put under a binding kido spell, one above sixty, which meant even with his enhanced strength, he wouldn't be able to break out of it.

"Let go of me! I have to go save them!" he snapped, glaring at Kendai. She knelt down beside him and shook her head.

"No you can't. That's exactly what Soul Society wants."

"But I can't just let them get captured!" he said desperately, and looked to Rukia for support.

"Think Ichigo. Once they take you, Soul Society will want to erase any evidence or traces that an arrancar was there. They'd kill your family anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if they went after your friends too. It doesn't matter how strong you are. You won't be able to defeat Soul Society by yourself." Kendai explained, trying to make him understand.

"But…Karin and Yuzu…" he looked down at the floor. Was he so weak that he couldn't protect them?

"Ah, but I said that _you_ can't save them because Soul Society would be on the lookout for arrancars…though I never said Rukia and I couldn't go." she said, smiling slyly.

"What? You mean you'd…"

"It's my fault that Soul Society came there in the first place. The Espada wouldn't have followed me if I hadn't come. I'm sorry, but it's the least I can do." she said, standing up and releasing the bind on the arrancar. Ichigo got up too.

"So what will I do when you're gone? And how are you going to get Karin and Yuzu without being noticed? And what about my dad?" he asked

"We'll figure out a plan when we get there, and we'll get your dad too…though as for what you'll do…" Ichigo didn't like the evil smile the shinigami was giving him.

"My father will have sealed off all Gargantas leading outside of Las Noches…though if we left Las Noches and got out into the desert…"

"Then we could open a Garganta there-but wait, I can't open one. I thought only arrancar could do that." Rukia said

"Well, there's actually a kido spell for opening one…though, to get out…" Kendai trailed off

"We'll need a distraction." Rukia finished, an evil smile similar to Kendai's slowly spreading on her face as she looked at Ichigo.

"Hey…why are you two looking at me like that?" he asked nervously.

____________________________________

"Is the coast clear?" Rukia asked Ichigo. He nodded, and signaled for them to come out of hiding. Rukia and Kendai ran down the hallway, and over to Ichigo. So far they had encountered no Espada or arrancar what so ever.

"Um…Kendai? Didn't you say your dad had a zanpakuto that could create illusions, or produce some kind of hypnosis?" Rukia muttered

"Well, yeah, but I've always been able to see through them to a degree." she whispered back

"To a degree? That doesn't sound very reassuring." Ichigo whispered, and looked around. The hallway was just as deserted as before.

Kendai pointed to a door opposite from them.

"That leads outside. This is one of the closest places to the outside, and then out of Las Noches." she said, and Rukia and Ichigo nodded.

Ichigo ran to the door, and opened it, checking if there was anyone around. Once again, there was no one around. He motioned for the shinigami to come over, which they did, and then they started climbing a set of stairs that led up, but were open to the large black sky of Hueco Mundo.

"Hey, since I wasn't needed as a distraction-yet-and if I'm not needed as one can I-"

"No." both shinigami said in unison.

"Even if you weren't needed to distract someone-" Kendai said

"We still can't risk letting you come because Soul Society-" Rukia said

"Will find you and-"

"Find us-"

"And-"

"Then we won't"

"Be able to-"

"Rescue your-"

"Family." Kendai finished. Ichigo looked at them as if something were wrong or out of place.

"What-" Kendai began

"Is it?" Rukia asked, finishing the other shinigami's question.

"Are you two sisters or twins separated at birth or something? Because aside from the fact that you can finish each other's sentences, you're both the same height and look alike." he said as they ascended the stairs, glancing back at them.

"…"

"So…uh, back to the what-if-I-don't-have-to-be-a-distraction-thing?" Ichigo asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Hey…you know Ashido, don't you Ichigo? He told me you met him a while before I came." she said. Ichigo looked back at her in shock.

"You met him too?" he asked

"Are you talking about the shinigami-hollow thing in Menos forest?" Kendai asked

"Yeah. His name is Ashido, and I told him that I would bring him back to Soul Society…though, if we don't use Ichigo to distract the arrancar, I want him to go to Ashido until we return. I want you to tell him what happened and that he might not be able to go back to Soul Society with me…ever." Rukia said, and she couldn't keep the slight tone of sadness out of her voice. She knew that from the moment she gave Ichigo her powers, and from the moment that she understood what he had become, that she probably would become a wanted criminal.

"Hey, cheer up. I'm sure you'll get to be in Soul Society again." Kendai said, nudging her friend.

"Yeah, like on my way to the Sogyoku." Rukia muttered bitterly

"Aw, c'mon Rukia. Don't be like that. If you keep it up, you just might end up being all emo and depressed like Ulquiorra. I don't think you want to have tear tracks on your face for the rest of your life do you?" Kendai said, smirking playfully.

Rukia couldn't help but laugh a little as she pictured the fourth Espada. He did look quite funny, almost like a sad clown.

"No, no. I guess you're right." Rukia said, as she smiled. Maybe she would get to be in Soul Society again, one day. Maybe she'd get a chance to see Renji, Momo, Kiyone, and the others. Maybe she'd get a chance to see her Captain. And maybe, for one day, they could have a picnic out on the lake, like Captain Ukitake always talked about. Maybe…but then again, she was just dreaming.

_But remember Rukia, every great accomplishment starts with a dream. _, Sode no Shirayuki reminded her

'_And it ends in either success or failure. I know, you've already said that.'_

_Yes, though remember this. The outcome, whether it is success or failure, usually depends upon the resolve of the dreamer. The only question is do you have the resolve to return and face your former comrades?_

'_I do. …When Ichigo went missing, you asked me about my resolve. And even though no hollows attacked me when I came here the first time…you still warned me. Why?'_

_Because Rukia, if you had not the resolve, he would not have come back. If you did not have the resolve, you wouldn't have gone into Hueco Mundo. You would have been scared of dying or trying, and because you would've also been afraid of failure, you wouldn't have tried at all. So remember. It is your resolve to win that makes your blade strong. It is your resolve to protect that will allow you to rescue those girls. It is your resolve to live that will keep you from dying. And it will be your resolve to reunite with your friends that will allow you to accomplish it. Your resolve…will allow you to do things no one ever thought possible Rukia. Don't forget it. _, Sode no Shirayuki said, and her voice faded into the back of her mind, yet her words still echoed in Rukia's head.

'_My resolve…then…I will resolve to see them again in Soul Society, and to have that picnic by the lake. It will happen. I will make sure of that…and bring Captain Ukitake more of my drawings.'_ she thought as they neared the end of the stairs.

"Almost there." Ichigo said, and ran up ahead of them. He stopped at the top, and looked around. No one was there.

"Okay, it's clear. You can come up now." he said to the shinigami a few yards behind him. They came up past him, and looked around cautiously.

Kendai was about to say something to Rukia, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around to come face to face with-

"Ulquiorra." she growled softly. _One_ of the idiots responsible for the whole mess. Behind him was Grimmjow and Gin not standing far off.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked

""Out for a pleasant stroll at the edge of Las Noches. Care to join me?" she asked sarcastically, but her sarcasm was wasted on him.

"No. Your father wishes to see you." he said in his usual, always present monotone. He mechanically grabbed her wrist, and started to drag her away. She heard Rukia shouting something behind her but turned around and mouthed _'I got this.'_

Kendai reached up, and put her hand on Ulquiorra's hand, the one that was closed around her wrist (and somewhat painfully). He didn't stop, or even glance back at her.

"You won't get away this time. Escape is futile-" he stopped talking and walking/dragging her when she tapped his wrist. His entire arm went numb, and fell imply to his side. He was about to turn around, but he felt her hand grab his helmet. Seconds later he was forcefully thrown through the sand, and right into Grimmjow and Gin.

Kendai rubbed her wrist, and ran back to where Ichigo and Rukia were standing. Ichigo looked at the tangle of men with a certain degree of curiosity.

"They won't be untangling themselves for a while." Kendai reassured them, and Ichigo decided to get a closer look. He half wished that he hadn't.

The shinigami and arrancar were tangled together in a very…_odd_ fashion. Ulquiorra's horn had somehow stuck to the inside of Grimmjow's hole. He was also facing downwards, with his face pressed…somewhere. Since the two arrancar were glued together, they had somehow been wrapped around Gin, with Ulquiorra's feet in Gin's face, which was next to Grimmjow's. Actually, the shinigami and arrancar's noses were brushing they were so close. Ichigo felt slightly disturbed by the scene…especially the way Ulquiorra was…

Ichigo walked back to the girls, trying to forget everything he had seen in that last minute.

___________________________________________

"Did you feel that, Orihime?" Uryu asked. The spiritual pressure was very high, higher than the shinigami Rukia's had been, or Ichigo's.

"Yeah, I felt it. And it feels as if Rukia and Ichigo have disappeared. Though earlier…right before they vanished, I felt several different presences that were a bit like Ichigo's, only all of them were stronger." she said. She was still a little confused about all this new stuff and everything that was happening, but she could still understand enough to know what was happening was bad.

"You stay here. I'm going to ask my dad about this…maybe he knows who or what's causing this." he said, and left the room, leaving Orihime alone once more. She got up and started to observe the poster's and pictures that he had put up on the wall more closely. Though one picture in a silver frame on his desk caught her eye.

She walked over to get a closer look, and saw it was a picture of a young boy with black hair and glasses. Behind him was a smiling woman with long brown hair, thin lips, and a pretty face. She was beautiful. Standing next to her in the picture was the white haired man she saw earlier, Uryu's father, only he looked much younger and much happier. And next to him was white haired, elderly man, smiling. He reminded her of Albert Einstein. The woman was holding the boy, who was laughing, and Uryu's dad had his arm wrapped around her. They were all smiling and looked so happy.

Orihime was still looking at the picture when Uryu came back in, looking furious. The girl didn't notice him though, since she was so absorbed in the picture. Uryu tapped her shoulder, letting her know he was there. She whirled around, and came face to face with the Quincy, only inches apart from him.

"Oh, I'm sorry Uryu! I was just-" he ignored her apology and reached past her, picking up the photo she had been looking at so intently.

She watched his expression carefully, and then lowered her eyes to floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" she said as she bit her lip nervously

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Orihime." he said softly.

"…Is that woman in the picture…your mother?" she asked quietly. He didn't say anything for a few moments, and she avoided looking at him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine. And yes…she was my mother." he said, placing the picture back on the table. He sat down on the edge of his bed, and Orihime joined him.

"So…what did your dad say? Does he know anything about what's going on?" she asked

"No. He started to ignore after a while." Uryu sighed, and then, "I don't think I'll get anywhere with him, though."

"Oh…I'm sorry." she said, lowering her gaze to the floor. Uryu just looked at her.

"There's no reason for you to be sorry. It's not your fault he's such a self-absorbed, idiotic-"

"Ahem." a voice said. Both Uryu and Orihime looked to the door, which had been left open, but saw no one was standing in the doorway. Uryu got up and looked down the hallway in confusion.

Orihime watched him do this, until she heard a tapping sound. She turned around and saw a black cat sitting by the window.

"Hey Uryu, look at this! There's a black kitty in by your window!" Orihime said as she got up and walked over to the window. Uryu just nodded, barely listening to what she was saying. Had his father put hidden speakers in his room?

"Hello there Mr. Kitty! Do you want some milk?" Orihime asked, tipping her head to the side as she smiled at the cat. It stared at her unblinkingly.

"No thank you. There are more urgent matters to be taken care of." the same voice said.

"Huh?" Orihime looked around for the source of the mysterious voice, but couldn't find it. She looked back at the cat.

"Did you hear that Mr. Kitty?" she asked

"I can hear myself just fine." the voice said, only this time it sounded impatient. Orihime whirled around, looking for the owner of the voice. All she saw was Uryu still glaring down the hallway. Orihime looked back at the cat when an idea hit her.

"Did _you_ say that, Mr. Kitty?" she asked. The cat nodded.

"Yes, yes I did. Now if you two would come with me so I can explain the current situation that would be nice. And by the way, my name is Yoruichi, not Mr. Kitty." it said, before leaping off the window sill and landing on the grass in front of Uryu's house. It waited there, tail swishing, a sign that it was beginning to grow impatient.

Orihime stared at the spot that the _talking_ cat had been, before running across the room, and grabbing Uryu's hand, dragging him out the room and downstairs with her.

"Orihime?! What are you-we-what is this?!" he asked, shocked by the girl's sudden movement, and her strength. Her grip wasn't gentle as he might expect, but strong and firm. If he didn't know better, he could've thought that it was Tatsuki dragging him along with her.

Uryu's father, who was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper didn't even bother to look up from the article about the newest lenses for glasses he was reading.

"You two be good and have fun while you're out. Try not to die Uryu, and make sure that you protect your girlfriend." he said blandly, while Uryu just sputtered in shock at his words, before the last part sank in, and he turned red as a tomato.

Before he could shout at his father, Orihime dragged him out the front door.

She let go of his hand, and started to run.

"Orihime! Orihime, wait up!" he called, and started to run after the girl. He cursed under his breath when she rounded the corner and he lost sight of her. As he too came around the corner, he saw a flash of long orange hair, and kept running after it. He must've chased her several blocks because when he finally caught up with her, he was panting and felt like he was going to fall over.

"O…O…ri…hi…m…e…w…wha-" he panted, leaning over slightly. Orihime ignored him and started to walk towards a shack that was a few yards away from them. He straightened up and followed her. Once he caught his breath, he was finally able to ask her why she had been running.

"Orihime, why did you just take off like that? You know it's dangerous-"

"I led her here. Kisuke wants to see the both of you. I've already brought Chad here, so Kisuke can explain to all of you what's going on." the same voice that Uryu had heard in his room before. He looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but he felt Orihime tug at his sleeve.

"What is it?" he asked, and she just pointed at a black cat sitting in front of them.

"Wait…are you telling me that it's the cat talking? Orihime, for starters, cats don't talk. Secondly, it's just a stupid cat-" he never got a chance to finish, because at that moment, something knocked him back with a surprising amount of force. He lay there on the ground, glasses askew and slightly dazed by the impact. He blinked rapidly, and looked at his chest where he felt a small amount of pressure. The cat was sitting there, a displeased look in its golden yellow eyes.

"I would prefer if you _both_ referred to me as Yoruichi, and not 'the cat' or 'a stupid cat'. I don't think you'd like it if I called you 'the Quincy' or 'a stupid Quincy'." Yoruichi growled before hopping off Uryu's chest and strolling over to the shop. It beckoned to them.

"Are you two coming, or will you just stand there gawking at me like pigeons?" Yoruichi asked impatiently, before hopping through a window.

Uryu was still lying there, staring in shock at the window the cat; um-Yoruichi had jumped through, when Orihime offered him a hand.

"Thanks." he said as she pulled him up off the ground with a surprising amount of strength. He tried to put it out of his mind, but couldn't help but notice that Orihime was anything but willowy, thin, and overall more compactly built like Rukia Kuchiki. Orihime defiantly had nice curves, but they weren't brought out as much as they should be, due to the stupid school uniform. Though the white buttoned top couldn't hide her impressive assets, which he found himself staring at as she helped him up. Uryu mentally smacked himself, shouting in his mind what a pervert he was for looking at Orihime like that.

"Uryu? Uryu? Are you okay?" the orange haired girl asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking." he said, ignoring the concern in her voice. She studied him for a few moments before nodding.

"I was just worried that you might have hit your head hard when Yoruichi knocked you over." she said, and then, "Are you sure your alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Should we go in now?" he asked, and she nodded. Together they walked into the shack, and oddly, the door was already open.

___________________________________

"They're not here." Rukia breathed. She and Kendai had just entered the world of the living about ten minutes ago, and had just arrived at the Kurosaki clinic. Neither of the shinigami could sense the presence of the house's former inhabitants.

"…You don't think…that-"

"No. I don't think that they would've been caught that easily." Kendai said quietly. She felt around for traces of their reiatsu, but couldn't find anything leading away from the house, or any other shinigami's reiatsu other than Rukia's and her own. It was as if the Kurosaki family had just vanished.

"So what now?" Rukia asked. She didn't want to go back to Ichigo and tell him 'We couldn't find your family-it was like they just vanished without a trace.'

Rukia squeezed her eyes shut. This whole thing was her fault. Ichigo and his family could have lived a normal if not for her. Now they could not only see spirits, but they were also spiritually aware as to what exactly hollows and shinigami were. That, and Rukia had turned their eldest and only brother into a hollow.

Rukia was about to ask Kendai if she had any idea where the family might have disappeared to, when she felt something press against her neck. Her vision blacked out and she knew no more.

"Rukia?" Kendai asked, feeling the other shinigami's reiatsu waver. She looked over to the place where Rukia had been standing, as saw that there was no one there. She suddenly felt another presence, but it was too late.

She felt something press against her neck, just as Rukia had felt, and muttered "Damn." as she too fell unconscious. The last thing she saw was a pair of black clothed legs before everything, her entire vision, went black as well.

_______________________________________

Dun dun dun DUHHH!!! Now, for a new segment! I got the idea to do this at the end of each chapter after watching some of the Shinigami work diary endings/Shinigami illustration endings. I'll be doing endings like this for the rest of all the chappies. This one was longer than I anticipated, but I couldn't resist but write the last part. And don't forget to review! Now for some random fluff! That takes place at a random time!

_________________

Rukia gazed at it longingly. She wanted it so badly. It was so big…and so…so…

"Rukia, what are you staring at?" Ichigo asked, looking in front of her.

"That…" she said, pointing at something dreamily. Ichigo looked to where she was pointing, and sputtered.

"You want-"

"Chappy." she sighed, cutting him off. The orange haired teen blinked, and saw that she was actually pointing at a large Chappy plush. It was sitting among many other prizes that were up for grabs at this booth. They were at a carnival/festival, and it due to its size, set up, and how many people were there, it greatly resembled a picture of the California state fair. Ichigo had once seen a video of the fair and some of its attractions.

Ichigo looked at the booth, and saw that it was a ring toss. It didn't _look_ too hard, but the people paying to toss rings found out otherwise.

Ichigo looked from the expression on Rukia's face, to the rings. He sighed and slotted his hand into his jean pocket and pulled out some money from his wallet. He walked over to the front of the booth, since Rukia had been leaning on the side, and handed the money to a girl working behind the counter. He exchanged the money for three medium sized throwing rings.

Rukia perked up and watched Ichigo. She walked over to his side and asked him what he was doing.

"I'm going to win you that over-sized rabbit you keep staring at." he said. There were several poles, and each had a number at the base. You had to get the highest score possible to get a prize from the shelf that Chappy was on, but the poles that had the highest numbers were the most difficult to get a ring on. Ichigo studied the distance between him and the pole behind the counter, before throwing the rings in a rapid succession. Seconds later the rings clattered together, and landed on the last pole, the pole with the highest number.

The girl behind the counter looked both surprised and impressed, as well as Rukia. The girl brought down the Chappy plush when Ichigo pointed at it, and the orange haired teen handed it to Rukia.

Rukia was speechless. Almost as far as she could remember, no one had ever done something like this for her before. It didn't matter that it was just a stupid plush, and it was just a stupid game, but the gesture itself…it meant a lot to her.

"Th-Thanks." she said, blushing when she stuttered. Ichigo just smiled, and then looked up at the night sky.

"Hey, maybe we can catch the fireworks. I heard that they'd be starting soon." he said, and Rukia followed him towards an area where there was a large amount of water. It was nearly a football field wide and half as deep. There was a large concrete bridge spanning over it where many people walked, and there were two-seater, swan shaped boats floating around in the waters below.

"Hey, that looks kinda fun." Rukia said, pointing to the boats. Ichigo looked over to the boats as well and blushed. Rukia seemed quite oblivious to the fact that it was something more…for…well…_couples._

"Uh, Rukia, hold on a minute." he said as he followed after her when she started to walk towards the dip under the bridge where they were renting the boats.

She ignored him, and looked over the railing curiously. She looked back to the small dock where some boats were stationed. Then she looked over to a man in a red vest, standing by the dock.

"How much is it for a boat?" she asked just as Ichigo came to her side. The man answered, and Rukia nodded.

"Hey Ichigo, did you want to rent a boat? It looks fun, doesn't it?" she asked, and Ichigo could only nod. It seemed she really didn't know about the whole couple thing, but she did seem to want to rent a boat. Besides, Ichigo thought, it would be nice to observe the fireworks when they were on the water.

Ichigo paid the man in the red vest, and they went down the small dock. He let Rukia pick out the boat of her choice (even though they all looked the same) and he got in before her so he could help her get in. It was the type of boat that you had to peddle, but most…couples were just drifting around aimlessly, making out. Once again, Ichigo blushed at the whole idea of him and Rukia being here…

They peddled out just as the fireworks started, and after a few minutes, they stopped and just drifted along. A voice emitted from hidden speakers, booming over the sappy love songs that had been playing across the water.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, we will select the couple of the night! You will be able to view them on all screens across the fair. If you look up in the sky, you just might see our Cupid Copter!" the voice said, and people looked up at the night sky. Sure enough, there was a helicopter painted pink and red with bunches of hearts and arrows on it. On the bottom was a search light.

The light glanced over the crowd, until it shone on the water where the boats were, darting from couple to couple. It finally stopped on a boat, and on screen two people appeared.

"Oh god." Ichigo muttered as he blushed. Rukia was blushing as well, having realized what kind of situation they were in.

"So, will the couple of the night kiss or not?" the voice said teasingly, which only caused the shinigami and arrancar to blush even more. Much to their dismay, the crowd of people on the bridge had suddenly stopped and were chanting "Do it, do it!"

"Guess we have no choice." Rukia murmured, and leaned over on Ichigo, tilting his head slightly. Ichigo didn't resist, and his gigai seemed to go on autopilot, leaning towards the shinigami until their lips met.

People cheered and clapped, and then the spotlight moved over the crowd, and the voice from the speakers resumed talking, though neither Ichigo nor Rukia were listening anymore.

They were…apart…and not kissing anymore, but were looking away from each other, both blushing furiously.

"Um…Rukia? Could we…uh…"

"Forget this ever happened?" she finished for him. He nodded.

"Ye-Yeah, s-sure." she stuttered, completely and totally embarrassed by what had happened. Though she never did forget what happened, nor did the sweet, lingering taste of strawberries leave her mouth for quite some time.


	11. Chappy 11

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

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Rukia was vaguely aware of voices speaking. Though she couldn't figure out where they were coming from, or if they were inside or outside of her head and she couldn't distinguish their words either, as if they were talking in gibberish. And lastly, she couldn't tell if they were talking to her, or the other voices she was hearing.

"…Ichigo…disappeared…said…what…wouldn't…can't be…" Rukia heard a voice say. It sounded oddly familiar, as if she had heard that voice before. Where was she anyway? Everything was dark, and her senses were still numb. She tried to open her eyes, but her eye lids felt like led. Her conscious faded in and out, flitting about like a wild sparrow.

______________________

_A white wolf bounded across and icy tundra, while a rainbow of lights danced in the night sky. The lone wolf stopped suddenly, and looked over her shoulder. The gentle wind suddenly turned violent, clawing at her snow white coat and tearing the breath from her lungs. The aura above flickered like a candle, and red bloomed in the sky like a bloody flower. The beautiful dancing aura disappeared, only to be replaced by fire, which rained down from the sky. The wolf yelped, and kept running, but this time out of fear. The ice and snow beneath her paws melted rapidly, and she fell onto bare, hard earth which was soaking wet. The wolf got up, now muddy, but she could hear tortured cries of other wolves. She had to get back in time to help…_

_She heard laughing coming from all around her. Cynical, horrible, evil laughter._

"_Keep running little wolf! They'll all be dead soon! Run little wolf, run!" a voice cackled, and the ground beneath the wolf's paws opened up, revealing a fiery inferno. She cried out as it swallowed her up, and she fell down into hell._

___________________________________

"Be…looking…for them…come…and…Soul Society…Yamamoto…" wait…what? No, they needed to talk more slowly. She couldn't understand it all…

___________________________________

_Rukia felt at ease here. Golden fireflies blinked at her, flying around the beautiful garden. Coy fish swam around peacefully in the small pool that reflected a shining sliver moon. Everything was calm…peaceful…beautiful. A girl with long white hair and golden eyes sat next to Rukia. She was wearing a white dress, and she could tell that they were the same height._

"_So tell me sister, what do you think of the coming storm? Mother has been awfully worried…and father is gone…though everything seems so peaceful here." the girl said, and sighed, wishing this could last forever._

"_I don't know Amy. I wish father was here…though the clans seem to be alright. I just hope that the Tatachi clan was wrong. Though…" she trailed off, afraid of saying what she thought of next._

"_What is it, Yumi? Something the matter? I know that you're worried about mother and father." Amy said, picking a piece of heather. The plant grew at her touch, blooming and growing until she set it back down in the soft earth and green grass, where it took root again._

"_Nothing." she whispered, and got up from the place where she had been laying with her sister. Fireflies buzzed around her head, forming a living halo. She looked at the silver moon hanging in the sky, reflected by the water. She then looked at herself. She was wearing the same type of plain white dress that her sister had been wearing, and she appeared as a child of about six or seven. Her eyes were silver, not just gray, but they seemed to shine like the actual metal. Her hair was snow white, with the silver streaks in it, which turned the same bright silver color as the moon under its light. Her features were somewhat streamlined as compared to before, and she looked more elegant and beautiful than she really was. This girl wasn't Rukia Kuchiki. So then, who was she, and why was Rukia seeing things from her point of view?_

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"Waking…up." yes, that's what she was trying to do now, but she still felt tired. What seemed like after several minutes, with a huge amount of effort, Rukia was able to open her eyes. She blinked from the light, but realized that there was a dark shape above her. A blurred face looked down on her with concern and asked her something, but the words were so far away…so…unclear. Though Rukia blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the person above her. When her vision cam into focus and her mind came up to speed, she gasped.

"Yuzu! What-how did…where…?" she trailed off, with so many questions in her head, but she couldn't get them out of her mouth. Yuzu seemed to understand this, and started to explain.

"We were brought here by good shinigami like you, who say they know Ichigo. Dad also seems to know Mr. Hat-n-Clogs and Yoruichi. They've explained most of what happened, and Kendai just woke up a few minutes ago just before you did. She's waiting for you with Mr. Hat-n-Clogs and Yoruichi in the other room. Can you stand?" she asked, and Rukia, taken aback by all this and still very confused, could only nod. With some help from Yuzu, she got off the sleeping matt, and walked over into the next room. She sat down by Kendai, who looked just as confused, and slightly angry.

"So Kisuke, why did you bring us here?" Kendai asked as soon as Rukia plopped down beside her.

"So you don't get caught by the Soul Society of course. Ever since your lovely arrancar friends have shown up they've been sending out regular patrols in most areas of the town. That and they've been suspicious of an arrancar hiding here all along." Kisuke said, hiding his face slightly behind his white fan. Yoruichi, in her human form, was leaning against the wall casually with her eyes closed. Kendai had already figured out that it had been Yoruichi that had knocked them out, since it had been black tights that she had seen, and not a black hakama.

"Hm, well, since you two are obliviously very confused, I think I should start from the beginning. Soul Society did pick up on Ichigo's reiatsu, though the twelfth division counted it as a malfunction on their radars. This helped because I was able to hack into their systems and…mess around a bit with some files that were unimportant, making it appear as if these were just glitches and freeze ups." Kisuke explained, "The Soul Society had enough to deal with after your defection, which helped us. Though how the Soul Society now knows about the Espada, has recently become clear, thanks to some scouting done by Yoruichi. She found out that some unseated shinigami had found out about the Espada and Las Noches from some small fry hollows who exchanged their safety for this information just before the shinigami decapitated them. The Soul Society suspects that your father's true motives are to murder the Rao. Am I correct, _Kendalaina?_"

Kendai growled at the use of her entire name, which she hated.

"If you mean 'killing that phony bastard sitting on a pile of clan skulls' then yes, that's what he _is_ planning to do and _will_." she snapped.

"Well, the Soul Society has made it their priority to wage a war against your father, not only for the fact that he wants to kill the king of Soul Society, but also the fact that he has sided with hollows and is using them in his army. It would be all to perfect for them if they could capture either of you and use you for ransom." Yoruichi said, but Rukia was confused.

"Wait…I know that Captain Aizen would definitely try to rescue Kendai since she's his daughter…but not me. I really haven't been close to any of them except for Kendai…and still…" Rukia lowered her gaze to the floor as she spoke, but Kisuke and Yoruichi only exchanged glances before looking at Kendai, who was looking at the floor to.

"Well, Rukia, I don't think that Kendalaina has told you the truth about your heritage. You see, I did some research on Aizen a long time ago, and found that he actually had _three_ daughters with his wife. One is deceased, but the other two are still alive. The records which I found are very old, but confirmed the fact that the remaining children were only born about a year apart."

"And? What does this have to do with me?" Rukia asked impatiently.

"Well, before the eldest sister passed away, she married Byakuya Kuchiki."

"So Lady Hisana was Kendai's sister?" Rukia asked. It seemed to make sense, since Kendai did resemble Lady Hisana. They both had the same facial features and build.

"Yes. And…well, Hisana had another younger sister. She was the youngest out of the three, though before Hisana married into the Kuchiki clan, she abandoned her on the streets of Rukongai. It might've seemed like a cowardly, selfish act-"

"Which is was." Kendai interrupted.

"-Even though she was just trying to protect her youngest sister. Has anyone ever told you Rukia, that you look just like Lady Hisana?"Kisuke asked, tipping his had slightly

"Yes…many people both inside and outside of the Kuchiki clan have told me…but I don't see how we could be related though…" Rukia said, trailing off, not seeing where this was going.

"Ah, but remember what I said? Hisana abandoned her youngest sister in the streets of Rukongai at young age. So she wouldn't remember her eldest sister. You see, Aizen's wife belonged to a clan, but when that clan came under attack, there were only a handful of survivors. Hisana and her sisters were some of the few who managed to escape. So after the fall of her clan, Hisana fled to Rukongai, where she became nothing more than a peasant. She didn't dare reveal her true identity, fearing that the attackers would try to finish her off as well. So, she abandoned her sister in hopes that she would never remember anything that happened. And she was right. She never remembered a thing. Hisana passed away due an illness for which there was no cure, but shortly before her death, she asked her husband to find and adopt her youngest sister into the Kuchiki clan. And that's exactly what Byakuya did." Kisuke finished.

"…"

"…"

"…So you're telling me that I'm really Byakuya's sister-in-law, and so is Kendai. And that Hisana and Kendai are really my older sisters, and that Captain Aizen is really my father?" Rukia asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yep." Kisuke chirped

"…Kendai…is this true?" Rukia asked, a confused but hopeful look in her eyes.

"…Yes, it is. Hisana thought it would be best if no one but a few select people knew about your actual heritage." she said quietly.

"…Well, we'll just leave you two alone so you can have a big mushy family reunion while we go out to meet your arrancar friends who should be arriving soon." Kisuke said cheerfully as he got up and walked out of the room. Yoruichi followed him, and shut the screen door behind her, leaving just the two girls alone.

Rukia was the first to speak up after the shop keeper had left.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" she asked, trying not to sound hurt.

"…Because…I didn't know if you'd believe me for starters, and even if you did, I didn't know if you'd really want me or Hisana as you sisters or family at all." Kendai replied, looking down at the floor. She was tackled to the ground seconds later, and looked at Rukia in shock.

"How could you say that?! I've always wished for parents, or to at least know who they were. I always wanted to at least _know_ who my family was…so that I could say I wasn't _just_a Kuchiki. I hate Byakuya…and I don't want to be part of the Kuchiki clan, but what choice do I have? I couldn't have asked for a better sister than you. I've…wished, even though it was childish, that you really were my sister." she said, her voice shaking as a film of tears developed over her eyes.

"Rukia…" she said, hugging her little sister, "I'm sorry then, for not telling you. I didn't know…but I'm sorry."

Rukia nodded, and let her sister hug her. It felt good, especially to know that she did have family who loved her. Just as she was thinking of Aizen, her father, she heard something, and so did her sister.

"Hello?" Kendai heard someone say, and looked up from her sister to see an orange haired girl with gray eyes poking her head through the screen door, which had been left ajar. Two other people stood behind her, one was very tall and dark skinned, while the other was paler, and had deep blue eyes. He reminded her of Ulquiorra a bit…

Kendai didn't say anything as she heard the screen door slide open further, but ignored it, and kept looking at the girl.

"Um…hi. Are you…Kendai?" the girl asked shyly. Kendai watched for a moment as she walked into the room before answering.

"Yes." she said.

"Oh…I'm Orihime, and this is Uryu and Chad." she said, pointing to each of the said person in turn.

"So…um…is it true? Everything that Mr. Urahara told us…about arrancar…and the Soul Society…and that you Rukia's sister?" the girl asked.

"Yes…it's true." she said. Rukia didn't say anything, but just watched the humans silently.

"…So about these arrancar…do they know who Rukia is?" Uryu asked.

"Um…kind of…well…not really." she said

"So…Rukia…is Ichigo going to come back?" Orihime asked, and Rukia just nodded. She half-wished that they wouldn't have come in, and that they just would've left them alone.

"Do you know when?" Uryu asked

"Yeah. In fact, Kisuke should be getting ready to go get him now." Kendai told them, and glanced at her sister.

'_I hope Ichigo doesn't do anything stupid.'_Rukia thought as Orihime resumed talking again.

__________________________________________

"Wow, you guys can get into a lot of trouble. Especially in such a short amount of time." Ashido said.

Ichigo just nodded, thankful that he had been able to find the redhead.

"So, aren't you going to go back to your shinigami then?" Ashido asked, catching the arrancar by surprise.

"Wha-What?" Ichigo stuttered, picking up on how Ashido had said 'your'.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? Shinigami are bound to get into lots of trouble…especially yours. So are you just going to let her wander around with another shinigami, when Soul Society is looking for the both of them?" Ashido asked flatly. Ichigo realized that he was right, but there was still one problem.

"But if I went looking for them, Soul Society would find me, and maybe find them."

"…Did it ever occur to you to just…I don't know…hide your reiatsu? You know it's really not that hard to do." Ashido said sarcastically, and then turned around to leave.

"Oh…and by the way, tell Rukia I said hi." he called over his shoulder before disappearing back into the shadows of the forest. Ichigo blinked several times, thinking over what Ashido had said. He then realized that he was right.

'…_So then why the hell am I standing around here for?!'_the arrancar thought, and flicked his wrist, opening up a Garganta.

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Grimmjow was not happy. At all. He had been stuck to Emospada in a very uncomfortable way, and he was stuck to the fox faced shinigami too.

"…Ya know…we're almost close enough to kiss." Gin told the arrancar, and Grimmjow's eyes widened.

"I'm not some gay dumbass idiot like you!" he snapped, and tried to break free from the mess they were in. He could hear muffled complaints from Ulquiorra.

"Oh just shutup!" he snapped at the fourth Espada, before resuming his struggling. Gin frowned.

"Ya know…the way ya keep moving around like that-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Grimmjow shouted, and Gin winced.

"I can hear ya just fine, so ya don't have to shout like that." the shinigami said, and tried to raise his left hand, but found that his arms were tangled with Ulquiorra's legs.

"…Okay…I think I've almost got Ulquiorra's horn out of my hole…" Grimmjow said slowly as he squirmed.

"Well…I don't think we're gonna be getting out of this unless we work together." Gin voiced, and Grimmjow just rolled his eyes.

"Do you know stupid that sounds? Besides, I can get out on my own just fine." Grimmjow growled, and continued to struggle. Gin just frowned at the arrancar, before realizing something. Grimmjow's struggling was slowly pushing him away from the two arrancar. In another minute, he might be free. Though for some unknown reason, he started to hum.

Grimmjow was agitated enough as it was, and the stupid shinigami stupidly humming. Grimmjow started to struggle even more than before, and not even a minute later, Gin fell back onto the sand, free from the tangle of arrancar. Once he got a good look at them, he saw something orange and sticky looking holding Grimmjow and Ulquiorra together. Gin recognized it as the first part of a kido spell called 'Ambush Flare'. The first part was used like a net, to trap or tangle the enemies, and then it was used in conjunction with a fire-type kido, like Hado 33. Gin guessed he should have been thankful that Kendai hadn't invoked the second part of the spell, because while it may not have hurt the arrancar, he was quite sure that he would've felt it.

"Well, you two just stay there while I run off and tell Lord Aizen what happened. Be good." he grinned, before shunpoing away.

"HEY!!! COME BACK HERE YOU FOXED FACE FREAK!!! YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST UNTAGLED US FROM THIS CRAP!!!" Grimmjow yelled, but the shinigami was already very far away by now.

"Damnit!" he snarled, and then looked down at Ulquiorra, who was gasping like fish out of water.

"What the hell's your problem?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra motioned down with his head, and Grimmjow got what he was saying. The blue haired arrancar looked away, blushing slightly, and completely embarrassed.

"I guess this is some kinda twisted joke of hers." he growled, trying to fold his arms over his chest, but couldn't. He looked at his right arm, which was tangled in some sticky orange stuff.

"What the hell is this stuff anyway?" he muttered, tugging at his arm, but the sticky stuff seemed to tangle itself even more, and soon he couldn't move his arm at all.

"It's a kido net. I've seen it used before in conjunction with another spell. If I could use that spell…than I might be able to get us free from this." Ulquiorra said.

"…I see a few problems with this. First, arrancar can't use kido anymore than a shinigami can fire a cero. And second, even if we could use that stupid shit that shinigami use, how the hell would it get us out of this mess?" Grimmjow snapped, glaring down at Ulquiorra, who started to mutter to himself, ignoring Grimmjow.

"Hey…HEY!!! Ulquiorra! Are you on crack or something?! Hey, talk to me!" he yelled.

"_-name of Man. Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south. Hado 31, Shakkaho."_ he chanted, and suddenly a ball of flaming fire appeared at his finger tip, which he tipped towards the sticky orange binding closest to him.

"Wait…what the hell are you doing?!" Grimmjow yelled, panicking. Moments later, the both of them were engulfed in an explosion of flames, and fell apart.

Grimmjow's hierro had protected him, but he was still completely shocked by what had just happened.

"How the hell did you do that?!" Grimmjow asked after a few minutes, one the smoke from the blast cleared.

"I learned it from Lady Kendai. Apparently, arrancar are capable of using kido." Ulquiorra replied, brushing some ash off his jacket.

"…So does that mean I could use it in battle?" Grimmjow thought aloud, but Ulquiorra just shook his head.

"It requires concentration, patience, and practice. All skills which you lack, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said, earning himself a feral growl from Grimmjow.

"Whatever Ulquiorra. So now what're we gonna do?"

"Why are you asking me? And last time I checked, there was no 'we', Grimmjow." he said coldly, before flicking his wrist and opening up a Garganta.

"Hey…where are you going?!" Grimmjow shouted, following Ulquiorra through the Garganta before it closed.

"I'm going to find Lady Kendai." he said simply, not bothering to look back at the blue haired arrancar following him.

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And I'm going to end it there. This chappy was kinda short…but oh well. I had trouble writing this because my first idea sucked and gave away too much, and besides I think the whole 'Rukia is Kendai's sister' or whatever was a big enough plot twist…thingy. I had do go back and delete nearly everything…though some things I left as they were, or just changed it around a bit, so sorry if things don't make sense now, I'll try to fix that in the next chappy. Btw, at the beginning, when Rukia's trying to wake up, the italics are her dreams since she keeps falling unconscious or whatever. Just wanted to put that in incase someone got confuzled…so yeah. And it's that special time again! Weirdly, I wrote and finished the ending before I finished the actual chapter…the idea seemed to stupid and funny to just put off. Hope you like, and don't forget to review! This ending was very random, and very sudden. I thought of it when I started to hum the Indiana Jones theme quite randomly for no apparent reason. ICHIRUKI FTW!!!

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(Indiana Jones theme music playing)

Dun du dun duuuhhhh, dun du duh, dun du dun duh, dun du dun dun duuuhhh

Rukia panted as she just barely made it over a pit of poisonous cobras. She held her trusty zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, whose ribbon doubled as a whip, in her right hand. Unfortunately, one of her companions had not been so lucky.

"Uryu!" the Mayan princess screamed as the annoying, know-it-all, useless archer fell into the pit and was eaten alive.

"Oh well. He wasn't really good for anything, so it wasn't a big loss." Ichigo said. Ichigo was her navigator. They were in some kind of temple, looking for a valuable, lost artifact from ancient times.

"Okay, let's keep going." Rukia said as she straightened up, finally regaining her breath. She adjusted her hat slightly, before running down the narrow stone passageway again, followed by Ichigo and Orihime, who was still sobbing. Finally, they came out to an opening, and there it was, sitting on a stone pedestal in all its glory. It was the-

"A golden sketch book? We came all that way out to this remote, stupid forest, in these old, trap-filled, stupid ruins, just so we could get a _sketch book._" Ichigo said sarcastically, and watched Rukia go forward to retrieve it. He rolled his eyes, but caught sight of her foot sinking on a stone.

"RUKIA!!!" he yelled, and tackled her to the ground, landing on his back and then rolling over so that his body acted as her shield. Arrows and poison darts shot out of the walls at odd and unpredictable angles, and they heard a strangled cry from behind them. When Ichigo let her up, after the arrows had stopped firing, they both saw the arrow and dart covered corpse of the Mayan princess who had guided them there.

"Oh shit. What the hell are we gonna tell her sister, Queen Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked, eyes wide at the horrible sight. Oh well. She wasn't really that useful either, because she only had a bunch of magic fairies that could guide people. They were annoying as hell.

"Um…she was eaten by an alligator and there was nothing we could do. It was the same alligator that ate Uryu." Rukia said, and Ichigo was satisfied with the lie that they would present.

"Okay, now let me get the sketch book…" Rukia muttered, and carefully approached the item on the pedestal. She waved her hand in front of it.

"…Rukia…what are you doing?" Ichigo asked as he watched this go one for a few minutes.

"I'm checking to see if they had one of those laser-security systems." she replied, and continued to wave her hand around it.

"…Rukia…they made the stupid temple like in 300 BC or something like that. I'm talking about thousands of years ago. They had just barely come up with their own script for writing. The people who existed way back then, everyone, was as dumb as a rock." Ichigo said flatly.

"Hm…I guess you're right. Though still…"

"Rukia! There is no damn laser-security system or whatever! Now get the stupid book and let's go." Ichigo snapped, and watched as Rukia grabbed the sketch book. Suddenly, the temple started to shake.

"What?! An earthquake?" Rukia shouted, and yelped when Ichigo grabbed her by the waist and ran away, carrying her bridal style.

"No, it's another one of those stupid traps!" he growled, and he glanced over his shoulder to see a huge boulder rolling down from the ceiling, and then dropping onto the floor, chasing after them.

Ichigo cursed, and glared at the ceiling when that annoying theme music started to play again. He jumped through a hole in wall instead of backtracking and being chased by the stupid boulder. The boulder though, followed them, and Ichigo realized that he could just use a cero as his feet hit the forest floor.

He pointed over his shoulder at the round rock, and fired his unique black and red cero, which reduced the boulder to dust. Rukia was still clutching the sketch book, but was amazed by what the arrancar had just done.

"That was incredible, Ichigo." she said in awe. Ichigo smirked, but blushed slightly.

"It was nothing." he said modestly, but then suddenly started to admire the beautiful sunset, which had just appeared quite randomly.

He looked down at Rukia, who was no longer wearing the brown jacket and light green pants, but a beautiful strapless white dress.

He felt as if someone was pushing his head down, and his face came closer to Rukia's.

"I love you." he whispered for some odd, unknown reason, and was about to kiss her. Rukia didn't seem to mind at all, and raised herself up slightly so she could feel their lips meet seconds sooner, but then she heard him say "Rukia, get up."

"What? What do you mean?" she asked, but felt him kiss her anyway. She pulled away uneasily, and looked around. She caught sight of an orange lizard sitting on a rock.

"Get up, Rukia! Stop talking to yourself!" it shouted in Ichigo's voice, and she blinked rapidly. She looked back at the actual Ichigo, who was holding her, but then saw that he was no longer there and no longer holding her. She saw that the sunset had disappeared, along with the forest and everything else, leaving nothing but a black abyss. She screamed as she started to fall faster, and faster, and faster-

"RUKIA, WAKE THE HELL UP!!!"

"AAAHHHH!!!" she yelled, and fell. Rukia snapped open her eyes, and propped herself up on her elbows, looking around. Wait…she had…been…asleep, and that meant…that it was…just a dream. The shinigami sighed in relief, but stopped when she caught sight of a pair of legs in front of her. She looked up to see a not-so-happy Ichigo.

"Damn, I'm just glad my family isn't home! What the hell were you dreaming about anyway? You were muttering something about a lizard, golden sketch book, and humming some stupid tune." Ichigo said, before offering her a hand. She took it, but wasn't able to regain her balance when he let go, since she was still a bit disoriented. Ichigo caught her just as she started to fall back. Rukia turned her head to the side, trying to hide the blush that was rapidly forming on her cheeks. She blushed even more when she felt his arm brush against her lower back.

"Hey, be careful. You're not sick or anything, are you?" he asked, and Rukia was touched by the concern in his voice, but shook it off.

'_Stupid, stupid, stupid! Ugh, I'm being such an idiot! Besides, it was just some stupid, sugar-induced dream!'_ she thought fiercely, and shook her head.

"I'm fine." she replied, freeing herself from his arms and walking away. She went back upstairs and settled in _her_closet, since she had been downstairs sleeping on the couch when Ichigo found her.

Rukia brushed her lips lightly with her fingertips, still thinking about the dream. That, and for some odd reason, she could've sworn that the taste of sweet, fresh, ripe strawberries was in her mouth. Though then again, it was probably just her imagination.

* * *

Once again I apologize if this chapter is confusing or if there's something wrong with it...something about it didn't seem right even though I went over it a few times...but oh well. Also, I would like to throw out the fact that since I'm going back to school updating will be a bit harder and updates might take longer as well, but a friendly, no flaming/ranting review is always a great help to get me motivated/inspired to write the next chappy, and they are greatly apreciatted.


	12. Chappy 12

**Disclaimer:** Wow! Been so long since I've done one of these…or at least that's what it feels like…oh well. I don't own Bleach…

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"Sir, we've detected new traces of the arrancar's spiritual pressure in Karakura town."

"Good, now inform the Head Captain." the golden eyed man said, as he walked away from the data screens to grab a project from a different lab. After that, he set off towards the captain's meeting.

Once every captain had arrived, the Head Captain spoke.

"According to Captain Kurotsuchi there are arrancar presently in Karakura town. This was supported by a group of unseated patrol shinigami who were slaughtered by the hollows. But, Kurotsuchi has developed a device that will allow us to capture one of the shinigami with the arrancar." he boomed, and every captain looked at Kurotsuchi once he had finished speaking.

"Yes, well, I was asked to make something that could catch one of the traitors by the Head Captain. This is the fruits of my labor." he said, and with flourish, he pulled out-

"A sack? What the hell!" Kenpachi growled, glaring at the scientist

"…I don't understand how this will help us capture one of the traitors, Head Captain." Sajin said, tilting his head in confusion as he looked at the brown cloth bag in Mayuri's hand.

"It's not just _any_ sack you morons!" Mayrui snapped, "It's made with special spiritual fabric that will paralyze the target on contact, and keep them from using any spiritual or physical attack. In other words, while their inside this, they'll be helpless."

"But why a _bag?_ Why not a cage…or a collar, or maybe a-" Kenpachi was interrupted by Unohana, who suddenly spoke up.

"I think that the point is that Captain Kurotsuchi has done a satisfactory job on this new device. With it we may capture one of the traitors and use them as a hostage to lure the others. Am I right, Head Captain?" she asked, looking at Yamamoto.

"No. Whoever we capture will be executed soon after being brought back to the Soul Society. That will show the traitors exactly what they are up against." the old captain said. The other captains did not disagree, but at the same time didn't understand what he was saying. Didn't it make more sense to use one as bait to draw out the rest?

"Captains Zaraki Kenpachi and Byakuya Kuchiki will be sent to Karakura town along with several seated members from their squads, including their lieutenants. There, they will capture one of the traitors. Kill anyone in your way, and eliminate the arrancar with them." he ordered, and the two said captains nodded before leaving. Just as the doors closed, the Head Captain banged his cane down.

"Dismissed!"

____________________________

"You suck Ulquiorra." Grimmjow muttered

"At least I don't suck small things like you, Grimmjow." the other arrancar shot back coolly, causing Grimmjow to turn red at his insult

"Why you-"

"Quiet. Do you hear that?" Ulquiorra asked, as he suddenly stopped. They were traveling through a Garganta, on their way to Karakura town.

"Huh?" Grimmjow asked as he stopped. After a minute of silence, he too heard something.

"What is it?" he asked, breaking the silence. In the distance, they could see a glowing path of reiatsu coming at them through the swirling torrents of black energy.

"…" Ulquiorra said nothing, but waited as the path crept closer to them. Grimmjow watched the reiatsu path intersect with their own, and stomped on it, breaking a section when it got close enough to him.

"This reiatsu…feels familiar." Ulquiorra murmured to himself. He watched the path intently, and saw a figure walking down it toward them. The white of his outfit stood out in the raging darkness just as much as his bright orange hair.

"It's that arrancar that followed Kendai!" Grimmjow growled, but Ulquiorra took no notice of this.

'_I don't know why I didn't realize it earlier…but this is the Vasto Lorde from before-the one I was informed about. That idiot Grimmjow can't even recognize his reiatsu signature, let alone tell what Menos class he is, though…his spiritual pressure isn't strong like before. It wasn't strong like before when I first met him, and now, it's just trash. How could an arrancar's reiatsu levels fluctuate so wildly when most of it is kept inside our bodies? When we release, not all of the energy is released as well. Our Resurrección only increases our amounts of reiatsu, and alters our zanpakuto shapes and our forms. Other than that, we keep all our reiatsu in our bodies to produce our hierro, and so our reiatsu levels don't fluctuate unless we're battling. So why does his reiatsu do this…?'_ Ulquiorra thought. By now, Ichigo had seen them too, and stopped nearly twenty feet away from them.

"You!" Grimmjow snarled as he reached for his zanpakuto. Ichigo reflexively raised his arm to block the attack, but before Grimmjow had even moved five feet with his sonido, someone else grabbed him, stopping him in his tracks.

"What the hell is it, Ulquiorra?!" he snapped, glaring at the arrancar holding his wrist.

"We don't have time for this. We must locate Lady Kendai and bring her back to Las Noches before the shinigami find her." Ulquiorra said, and then let go of Grimmjow's wrist. The sixth Espada sheathed his sword as his eyes narrowed at Ulquiorra.

"Fine!" he shouted, before taking off again, and rubbing his wrist which was bruised whilst muttering something about 'that stupid bitch has a strong grip'.

Ulquiorra glanced at Ichigo before following Grimmjow. Ichigo followed them uncertainly.

"Uh…hey, your name is Ulquiorra, right?" he asked as he sonidoed to his side. Ulquiorra kept walking on his green reiatsu path without saying a word. Grimmjow's was blue, the same color as his reiatsu, while Ichigo's path was black with red lining, like his reiatsu. Their reiatsu paths in a Garganta reflected the reiatsu of its user. (**AN:** Maybe it's true for arrancar…? idk, just go along with it)

"…" he didn't reply or so much as acknowledge his presence.

"…Hello? My name is I-chi-go." he said slowly, but still no response came from the arrancar next to him.

"Hey, Grimmjow?"

"What?!" Grimmjow shouted back at him

"Does he respond to anyone other than you, Kendai, and Aizen?" he asked

"…Uh…yeah. At least I think." Grimmjow shrugged, as if it didn't really matter. And to him, it didn't.

"Thanks." Ichigo muttered before looking back at Ulquiorra. Then he got an idea. Reaching over with one arm while they walked, Ichigo caught Ulquiorra off guard with surprising speed, and started to knock on his helmet. Grimmjow stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around to see Ichigo do something that only one person had lived through. The sound of something hitting something else hollow echoed through the darkness.

Ulquiorra grabbed Ichigo wrist, and glared at him.

"Do. Not. Touch. My mask." he growled before shoving Ichigo away from him. If there was one thing that Ulquiorra hated the most, out of all things, including trash, it was people hitting his helmet. A lot of arrancars thought it was funny to throw stuff at his head and see if they could hit his mask fragment. Five points if you hit the bottom, one point if you hit Ulquiorra at all, twenty points if you get something on his horn……………………it irritated him to no end.

Ulquiorra kept on walking, but as he passed Grimmjow, he could hear him sniggering.

"Either you're really brave, or really stupid. Maybe both but listen to Ulquiorra and don't ever touch his mask again." Grimmjow said as he patted Ichigo roughly on the back when he started to walk again.

"…So since his mask is bigger, does that mean he has a larger erogenous zone than us on his fragment?" Ichigo asked. All hollows had erogenous zones on certain places on their mask, and their hollow holes. Though the problem was with their masks was that there was only a certain area on the mask where the erogenous zone was, which meant some exploring had to be done…

"I don't know. Kendai probably does though…" Grimmjow muttered. He didn't like that thought or the image it created. That was…just…ew…

"So does that mean his hole is smaller?" Ichigo asked

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Grimmjow scoffed, "Besides, what gives you that idea?!"

"Well, since he's a guy his hole would be smaller instead of bigger, and it would be smaller too because he's more powerful…"

"You pervert! What the hell kind of crap do you read?! Oh god, you don't read erotic manga, do you?!" Grimmjow asked, mortified. Was he surrounded by perverts?!

"I only read a little bit of the monthly novels!" Ichigo said hotly, trying to defend himself. He wasn't really a pervert…just…a bit curious!

"Damn, I'll probably get some kind of brain STD from you if I haven't gotten it from Ulquiorra already…ew." Grimmjow winced as he stepped away from Ichigo. Instead of being noticeably offended by his action, Ichigo looked at Ulquiorra curiously.

"You read that stuff too?" he asked innocently

"…Occasionally."

"…I'm on novel twenty-one."

"…Where did you get it? I've been looking everywhere for novel nineteen."

"I got it in the human world. Don't tell me they sell stuff from the world of the living in Las Noches."

"…It was borrowed."

"Oh."

"…So, what happens to Misuke? Does Kuiro really rape her?"

"No, because he gains control of himself but Misuke has a really passionate sex scene with him anyway because she wants it and they both give into their desires…"

Grimmjow moaned softly as he covered his ears. He had to listen to these two _perverts_ for the rest of the time spent on their way to Karakura town. Just as he was thinking that Ulquiorra had broken his neck and he had died and gone to hell somewhere along the way, a center of very thick darkness appeared. It was an opening.

'_Ugh! Finally, I can get away from these perverts…'_ Grimmjow thought and sonidoed past the other arrancar. The darkness split open to reveal a fiery orange sky, and a large, bright disk sitting on the horizon. As his feet touched the spirit particles of the world of the living, he felt something hit the back of his neck. It wasn't hard, but it hit in just the right place with just enough reiatsu to make him black out instantly.

Ulquiorra and Ichigo came out seconds later, but hadn't seen their comrade collapse.

"Hey where's Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked as he looked around for the sixth Espada. Almost as if in response to his question, he felt something hit him on the back of the neck. Ulquiorra on the other hand, and been expecting something like this, and was able to catch the foot of the unknown attacker. He saw a dark skinned woman with purple hair grinning at him slyly.

"My, my, aren't you the fast one. I think you must be the only person the evade that attack in a hundred years." she said, winking at him, before bringing her legs around his waist and squeezing the air out of his lungs. Ulquiorra back flipped, using the force of his jump to help pry her off. She managed to dodge the kick from the arrancar, though the sheer force of his kick rippled her clothing as if she were in a strong wind. Her movements were limited when she was holding two arrancar under her arms. She turned her back to him.

"If you want what you're looking for, you'll have to play follow the leader first." she teased before taking off. The arrancar followed her as she expected, and in no time they were in front of Kisuke's shop.

Ulquiorra landed on the dirt ground in front of the store. It actually looked more like an old, weathered shack, but he could tell that there were people inside from the light streaming through the window, and the voices coming from inside. Suddenly, the screen door slid open, and standing there was a short girl with long brown hair and green eyes.

"Ulquiorra?"

"…Lady Kendai…I am glad to see that you are well, however you-" barely ten seconds later he found himself being dragged inside

"Why are you just standing outside?! What if Soul Society saw you through the barrier that Tessai put up?" she muttered while pulling him through the door. It shut behind them as if it had a will of its own, and she led him into a small room where several people were already sitting. It was a bit cramped, so Ulquiorra had to sit down first and then hold Kendai in his lap. It didn't bother him in the least, though.

The shinigami with dark hair, Rukia, was sitting next to them and holding an unconscious Ichigo, looking worried. He could tell by their reiatsu signatures and overall appearance that the boy with glasses, the girl with long orange hair, and the dark skinned teen were all humans. The woman who had first appeared before him was leaning against the wall, and two children were sitting by her, next to a large man with glasses. He was tending to Grimmjow, who was still unconscious. The last two people to catch his attention were two shinigami. One had black hair and a torn captain's cloak, while the other one had blond hair and a white and green stripped hat.

Ulquiorra didn't bother to ask exactly who this people were, but merely observed them until the blond man seemed to be finished speaking to the other shinigami, and cleared his throat slightly to get their attention.

"Good, so it looks like everyone's here. So, I guess that all of you know that Soul Society is aware of the arrancar here, or at least the arrancar that _were_ here." he said slyly, glancing over at Ulquiorra before continuing "I'm guessing that you came here for Kendai, am I right?"

Ulquiorra nodded stiffly.

"And you're planning on going back to Hueco Mundo with her as soon as you can, right?" he asked, and Ulquiorra nodded once more. The shop keeper seemed satisfied with this, and turned his attention to Rukia.

"Rukia, you know that you'll be going with them. You can't stay here any longer without risking being captured by Soul Society."

"…Yes…I know." she said quietly. Ulquiorra didn't get why the shinigami had to come with them to Hueco Mundo. It was her problem that Soul Society was hunting her down, not theirs. Suddenly, Kisuke turned back to Ulquiorra and grinned.

"Oh that's right! I forgot to tell you that Rukia is Kendai's sister! By blood of course." he fanned himself slightly, still grinning. Ulquiorra was mildly surprised, but did not show it. The fact that Rukia was Lord Aizen's daughter changed things. But then there was still that arrancar, Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Well, I can open up a Garganta for you, but…"

"But what?" Kendai asked

"Well, I can't open one up while the barrier is in effect, and neither will the arrancar. So, you'll all just have to wait here until Soul Society leaves." and with that, he got up and walked out the door. Yoruichi followed him, and so did Isshin, Tessai, Jinta, and Urru. This left the three humans, three arrancar, and two shinigami alone in the room. Uryu and Orihime began to talk quietly while the others didn't say a word. Thought it seemed that at that moment, Grimmjow decided to wake up.

"Uuhhhnn…what the hell…?" he muttered, looking around groggily. He blinked rapidly to clear his vision, and the first thing he saw was-

"Ulquiorra." he growled. Ulquiorra said nothing, but just looked at Grimmjow with faint interest.

"Where the hell are we?" he demanded

'_There he goes with that 'we' again…'_ Ulquiorra thought before answering Grimmjow.

"We're in the world of the living." he answered simply

"But _where_ in the damn world of the living?!" Grimmjow snapped

"At the Urahara Shop. The owner is a shinigami who knows my dad…and kinda helped us out." it was Kendai who answered this time

"Oh…hey, there you are. WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR FREAKIN EVER!!!" Grimmjow shouted suddenly, causing the humans to flinch. At that moment, Ichigo woke up, adding to the noise.

"Rukia!" he shouted, snapping open his eyes. He looked around the room, wildly until he saw Rukia's face right above him. "Rukia…" he breathed, almost like it was a sigh of relief. He had been very worried about her.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, sitting up. She nodded.

"I'm fine, but I was worrying about you, considering how long you were out." she said seriously "Yoruichi gave you a pretty big lump on the back of your head."

"Wha…?!" he felt the back of his head instantly, ruffling his spiky orange hair, only to discover there was no lump. He saw Rukia smiling playfully at him.

"Oh haha, you're so funny." Ichigo said sarcastically. Seconds after he said that, the door was practically thrown open. Nearly everyone(except for Ulquiorra)jumped slightly from shock, and they all stared at the two children standing in the doorway.

"Karin, Yuzu!" Ichigo got up and ran over to them "Are you two alright? What-"

"Ichigo, something bad has happened. There's someone outside and he's bleeding a lot." Yuzu panted, and grabbed her brother's hand, pulling him with her. Karin did the same, and together, the twins pulled their brother with them.

Rukia didn't even have to look back to know that her sister was following her, and so were the arrancars. The humans though, hesitated.

"Orihime, Chad, stay here and I'll go see what's going on." Uryu said quickly before getting up and running out the door, following the shinigami and arrancar. Orihime got up and motioned to Chad. She pointed at a window, and Chad understood. Grabbing her by the waist, he picked her up and carried her to the high window that rested just below the ceiling. Orihime peeked out of the small glass rectangle, and gasped.

"What do you see?" Chad asked calmly

"Ichigo's sisters were right! He is bleeding a lot, but he's dressed like Kendai and the arrancars." she told him. It was true. Standing outside the barely visible kido barrier was a silver haired man with eyes the color of his blood drenched clothes.

"Gin!" Kendai rushed over to the shinigami without a second thought. Ulquiorra helped her support the usually smiling shinigami, who was now gasping and coughing up blood.

"What happened to you? Who did this?"

"O-Oth-er…shi-n-nig-gam-i…inv-vade-ed…Las………No…ches…" he rasped and stuttered, trying to talk while coughing up blood. That was when Kendai noticed someone else with him. It was Tosen. She let Ulquiorra take Gin completely, and caught the dark skinned shinigami just as he started to fall to the ground.

"Tosen…can you tell me exactly what happened to you and Gin?" she asked quietly, setting him on the ground. She started to heal him with her kido, and out of the corner of her eyes she detected a faint greenish glow, which meant Ulquiorra was doing the same for Gin.

"…Shinigami from Soul Society…came at us. The attacked Las Noches…and they killed……………"

"Who did they kill?!" Kendai asked sharply, almost stopping the kido altogether from her anxiety and fear of what he would say next.

"Your father." the words came down on all of them like an avalanche.

"No…no way…it can't be…"

"Lord Aizen is……"

"…" Grimmjow didn't say anything, but merely stared at the bloody shinigami. Something didn't seem right to him.

"No…Tosen, no! He wouldn't just die like this! Not when…" Kendai trailed off helplessly, not wanting to believe what the blind shinigami was telling her.

"…He…was overwhelmed by all the captains. He told us to run…to find you before the Soul Society did…" Tosen whispered hoarsely. Rukia had fallen to her knees in shock while Ichigo tried to comfort her. The father she had had always wanted but never known was dead.

"Okay, before you all start sobbing and we pick out flowers for the funeral, let's get something straight you fox faced bitch." Grimmjow spat at Gin, and picked him up by the scruff of his jacket "One, Aizen ain't gonna die that easily, no matter how many captains there are, and two, how the hell could shinigami get into Hueco Mundo? Only hollows can use Garganta, or shinigami with permission from a hollow to use the spell to get from place to place. And three, I just know something isn't right with your story. How could the shinigami just suddenly burst right in and kill everyone from between the time we left, and the time you came here, huh?"

Gin turned his head to cough up more blood on the ground, before giving Grimmjow a pleading look. But in a matter of seconds, his eyes shut, and the usual smile returned to his face.

"Very good Grimmjow." he praised, before gripping the wrist connected to the hand holding him, and snapped it. Grimmjow howled in pain just as the shinigami jumped away from him, and drew his zanpakuto. Tosen was off the ground too, standing next to Gin with his blade drawn as well. And standing around them was…

"Soul Society…" Ulquiorra muttered as he rose to his feet. From what he could tell, there were two captains accompanied by their lieutenants and several squad members.

Ichigo stood in front of Rukia, and took a protective stance over her, while Ulquiorra and Grimmjow did the same for Kendai.

"Gin…Tosen…you betrayed us?" Kendai asked, even though the answer was oblivious.

"Yes. Las Noches never came under attack, but we have sealed off any means of coming or going to Hueco Mundo completely. Help will not be coming, and this time, you cannot escape via Garganta like last time. Soul Society learned about Aizen and his plan's though us. We alerted them of your coming to the world of the living to see your sister. They everything thanks to us." Tosen explained, leaving everyone, including Ulquiorra, speechless. Finally, Kendai found her voice and summed up enough strength to ask one simple thing.

"Why?"

"Because both you and your father have chosen a path that only speaks of violence and bloodshed. For the sake of justice, I took Aizen's offer so I could pass on information to the Soul Society while in Hueco Mundo." Tosen explained

"I did it because honestly Kendai, I think you're a bitch and I hate your father even more. I've always been loyal to Soul Society…you were just too stupid to realize it and-" Gin said, but was stopped by Ulquiorra mid-sentence.

"Enough. I won't stand here and allow you to insult Lady Kendai or Lord Aizen like this any longer. You lured us out of the barrier by feigning near-death and convincing us that Las Noches had been attacked…" Ulquiorra's face nor tone betrayed any emotion, but underneath it all, he felt his instincts telling him to rip these traitors to shreds.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you…but it seems our time together has come to an end. Shoot to kill, Shinso!" Gin said, raising his sword up as it glowed white for a split second, before extending and shooting out at his target. The force of the wind that hit Kendai was incredible, and it knocked her back several yards but Ulquiorra and Grimmjow managed to stay on their feet. Uryu could sense the captain's enormous spiritual pressure from his hiding place, and watched as the blade pierced Ichigo.

"…!" Uryu tensed, even though he knew that he would be helpless against such an opponent.

Ichigo looked down as he felt something warm blossom against his back. He felt no pain. He felt no fatigue. He felt nothing that would've indicated that he had been hurt, aside from the warm blood dripping off his jacket. It was then that he looked down, and saw that sure enough a zanpakuto was sticking out of him, yet he could not feel anything other than the sensation of something wetting his skin and clothes. He brought a trembling hand to the blade, and felt the area around his wound. It was hollow. There was nothing. The sword had gone through his hollow hole and…

"RUKIA!!!" he twisted around to see Rukia impaled on the extended blade, blood dripping out of her mouth, eyes wide open in shock and pain. Her body fell to the ground, and blood splattered very where as the silver haired shinigami withdrew his blade, grinning.

"Ah, poor Rukia. Say hello to your eldest sister for me, and give her my regards." Gin called, before his blade shrunk back to its normal size.

"Now, which one of you should I pick off next?" Gin asked himself, but it sounded more like the kind of tone someone used when trying to decide what pair of shoes to get.

"How about…Kendai!" his blade extended again as Kendai ran to her sister, but Ulquiorra blocked it with his own zanpakuto, sonidoing in front of Kendai and knocking the long blade away. Gin frowned at him.

"You've never been any fun, Ulquiorra." he pouted as his blade shrunk again "You're such a humorless stiff. Never cracking a smile…never showing any emotion…maybe that will change once I chop off that annoying bitch's head." he said causally, referring to Kendai as she knelt down on the blood stained earth by her sister and started to heal her.

Byakuya and Kenpachi, who had been motionless this whole time, suddenly moved. Grimmjow drew out Pantera to block the large, beat up looking blade that swung down on him, accompanied by the weight of the huge man displaying a psychotic grin.

"Now don't disappoint me! Let's make this fight last long, and let's make it-" he jumped back, only to rush at Grimmjow once more, swinging his blade down so fast and hard that the air around them rippled from the sheer physical force "FUN!!!"

Byakuya had made a beeline for Kendai and Rukia, but his path was blocked by the stoic, green eyed arrancar. Their blades clashed, sending sparks off each other's zanpakutos. Meanwhile, Tosen had shunpoed at Ichigo, who was standing up with fire burning in his eyes. He snarled at Tosen, drawing out his blade and swinging it wildly at the shinigami. Tosen blocked it and frowned at Ichigo as if he were merely in the way, which he was.

Gin just shunpoed right behind Kendai, his sword coming down straight at her neck but Shinso only bit through empty air. He whirled around just in time to block a vicious backstab from the small girl. She glared at him, pressing against his blade with surprising strength due to her small frame. He hopped back, over Rukia's body, and grinned at Kendai.

"So, you'll tell Hisana 'hi' too, right Kendalaina?" the only response he got was another surprisingly strong stab from Kendai, which he managed to parry.

Renji watched the arrancar and shinigami battle, but stuck to his orders. He and the rest of the squad members who had come had been told to merely stay put and not get involved in any battles unless absolutely necessary. He and Yachiru were holding onto the sack that Captain Kurotsuchi had made. The two lieutenants had been ordered to stay put and wait for a chance to catch one of the traitors. Renji though, was in a dilemma. He couldn't decide which traitor he should bag. There was Kendai, who had been good friends with him before defecting, but then there was Rukia, his long time childhood friend who had suddenly deserted him for an arrancar. Though Kendai had basically done the same thing…he didn't like the way that emo-looking arrancar with the weird broken helmet looked at her, or how close she seemed to the even weirder looking blue haired arrancar with eye makeup like Ikkaku, only it was teal colored like his eyes.

"Hey Pineapple! Let's get Frosty-chan since she's not moving!" Yachiru chirped as she held up her part of the bag in excitement. While it was true that Rukia would be the easiest to catch since she was lying motionless on the ground, unprotected, he still couldn't bring himself to pick which one to capture.

"Or do you wanna go get Kenken-chan?" she asked curiously, sounding just like the little child she was. Renji hesitated, but then, he noticed something. The sky was being torn open. From the black holes that were barely visible against the night sky, the reds eyes and white masks of Gillian class Menos appeared. A golden beam of light enveloped Rukia, and then the orange haired arrancar who lay on the ground, beaten and panting, and then another beam came down of Grimmjow who had jumped back to avoid another swing from Kenpachi's blade.

That only left Kendai and Ulquiorra, who were still locked in their own fierce battles. Now the choice had been made for Renji. He used shunpo to get behind Kendai, and brought the bag over her figure just as the golden light bathed a figure standing next to her. Renji thought it was the arrancar who had come close to her, the one with the broken helmet, so he ignored the arrancar.

Once the light vanished be gleefully held up the sack that contained a struggling Kendai.

"We got her!" he said proudly, and his captain nodded

"Good. Now we can return to the Soul Society and report back to Head Captain Yamamoto." Byakuya said quietly as he sheathed his zanpakuto. Kenpachi grumbled something about 'not having enough fun' and 'didn't get to finish the fight' before he slung his own blade over his shoulder. Tosen stuck his blade out, like a key, and turned it, opening up the path to the Soul Society. One by one the shinigami walked in except for Gin who walked back just as he walked past the first door and into the white light.

"What is it Gin?" Tosen asked impatiently, folding his arms after he sheathed his katana.

"I forgot something." he said right before he muttered something under his breath. Seconds later, the Urahara Shop exploded, sending bits of burnt wood and debris flying all over the place.

"Ah." Tosen said, understanding once he heard the sound of the explosion. Gin bobbed his head pleasantly as he walked back into the white light, grinning as always.

__________________________

"Rukia…Rukia, wake up." someone said, shaking her gently. Once again, Rukia found herself slipping in and out of being conscious, and falling into a black void to which there was no end. But this time, there were no confusing, frightening visions of things that were unknown to her. Finally, she mustered enough strength to stay awake this time, and opened her eyes. She saw several concerned faces above her.

"Rukia, are you alright?" Kisuke asked softly.

_______________________

Byakuya had Renji present the sack to the Head Captain. A squad member from his division had already bound the prisoner in spiritual cuffs, which would mean even when they were out of the bag, they would be powerless.

______________________

"The damages? Ichigo was beaten both physically and I suspect emotionally or mentally by Kaname…Grimmjow is okay, but…"

_______________________

"Bring out the traitor!" the Head Captain demanded, eyeing the sack with a hidden glee. Finally, he would be able to end that wench's life once and for all.

___________________________

"Gin Ichimaru destroyed your soul chain and soul booster. You are no longer a shinigami. And…"

___________________________

The sack fell open, and a white-clad figure rolled out onto the hard wooden floor.

______________________________

"Someone was captured by the Soul Society. You see, I was gone so I could prepare a rescue field for you and the others by getting back to Hueco Mundo and summoning a group of Menos. Trust me, it's a lot harder than it sounds."

___________________________

"…" everyone was silent in shock as the lone figure glared up at the Head Captain, and said one word.

"Trash."

______________________________

"They captured Ulquiorra when you were all escaping. He's in Soul Society now…"

______________________________

"What is the meaning of this?! I did not issue orders to capture an arrancar! I told you to eliminate them and capture one of the shinigami!" the eldest captain shouted, looking down at all of the other captains, and lastly at the filthy hollow that dared look at him and speak to him like that.

_____________________________

"It seems that Ulquiorra took Kendai's place right before Renji threw the net, or bag, or whatever he used to capture Ulquiorra. Kendai's not exactly in the highest spirits, but I'm already making plans."

"What? What kind of-" Rukia didn't get a chance to finished asking because Kisuke put a finger to her lips as Rukia's father looked back at them. When he looked away to talk to the strange, glasses bearing arrancar, Kisuke began to speak in a low, hushed whisper.

"I've already developed a way for you to reclaim your powers. Once you do, I need you to snap Ichigo out of his funk, do the same thing for Kendai, and then you'll get to train for a few days if you get your powers back before you leave. In the meantime, the others will be training too." he explained, confusing Rukia even more.

"What?"

"Isn't it oblivious? Kendai's going to the Soul Society to rescue her beloved companion…I naturally assumed that you would want to come with her. Or am I wrong?"

"No, no! Of course I want to come…but when…when will I do this thing to get my powers back?" Rukia asked

"Well considering that you've been out for a while, about two whole days, I would say your just getting back up on your feet…"

"I want to start now. As soon as possible." Rukia urged, causing Kisuke to smile slightly at her determination. She had the resolve for this.

"But taking in the factor of your strong will, I'd say you're ready…hehe…now just as soon as your dad leaves, I'll take you to the training ground and we'll start from there." Kisuke told her. He back away quickly when her father came over to her bedside.

"…Rukia…I…" it seemed that the ruler of Las Noches couldn't find the words to tell his daughter how he felt "I know…that this must be odd for you…and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I'm sorry for not being there when you were hurt…"

"Um…that's okay?" Rukia said uncertainly, not really sure what to say. This was really the first time she had met her father, since she never talked to him before, even in Soul Society. But Rukia did feel something when he hugged her. Almost a warm feeling, that made her smile a little and be thankful that she did have family, and she wasn't just Rukia 'Kuchiki'.

After talking to him a bit, he left, and Kisuke picked her up.

"Ready?"

Rukia nodded. She had to do anything she could to help her sister, because no matter what, she wouldn't let Kendai go to Soul Society alone.

___________________________________

**AN: **rofl! ah, sorry, I was just talking to a friend before I finished this chappy up, and I told him about my 'rescue Ulquiorra arc' idea and he said 'What the F??? That's so random, people are gonna be like: NO!!! DIE ULQUIORRA, DIE!!!' it was funny, but no. I decided on rescue Ulquiorra arc because in Bleach, it's almost always the girls who are getting rescued…meh, Hal is sick of it! Ssoooo I decided on doing this instead because I didn't want to do the 'rescue Ichigo arc' because Ichigo needs to be in on the action to, and since Ulquiorra doesn't even do that much in the show compared to others, and I didn't want to do rescue Kendai or Rukia arc, I decided its gonna be rescue Ulquiorra arc. that, and I thought that the idea was hilarious…I couldn't resist. but to me, while writing this, this chappy seemed kinda dead. maybe it's just me, but my lack of enthusiasm for writing is fueled by the constant pile of school work that falls upon me, and I have a lot of studying to do for my Japanese class. that, and I'm trying to get more involved in school, so I can't sit in front of the computer for hours on end like I used to, a little like last year or something…so that basically translates into: slower updates. and it's just gonna get worse after the beginning of next year, but anyway, that's enough on how slow updates will be! and just to let you know, I'm working on an original story for fictionpress, so it's hard to transition between the original story, and then this because it's kind of a different writing style, and for me it's just hard to make that shift. so yeah…um, that's all I can think of at the moment, so hopefully you enjoyed this chappy, and you won't forget to review…or else, loljk. and now for the omake! this is taking a little break from the usual Ichiruki that I've been doing for the past two or so chappies, and it focuses more on Ulquiorra and Kendai. And this OBLIVIOUSLY happens before this chappy…or the last chappy…or the one before it. btw, I didn't have much time for revising and since this was a big chappy…I didn't have much time to look for typos or do anything other than hit the spelling and grammar button which doesn't always take care of everything, so please don't point out spelling mistakes unless their truly, painfully oblivious, because I get the feeling that I made a lot of them…meh. and one more thing! I know there are some plot holes, but I'll go over those later if anyone asks…so yeah.

____________________________

Ulquiorra was somewhat embarrassed. There was no way Grimmjow would ever let him live this down…but he had to ask for help. This was just too problematic and complicated, and he'd probably find some way of hurting himself if he carried on like this. That was why he _had_ to ask for help, since it was bothering him so much. So, Ulquiorra Schiffer was asking for help…which seemed quite odd.

"Lady Kendai…I need help." he told the shinigami. She was the only person he could think of to turn to in this mess.

"Okay…so what do you need help with?" she asked. It must've been a truly difficult task if Ulquiorra hadn't been able to do it on his own. The perverted part of her mind instantly concluded that it was a sexual problem. She didn't know if Ulquiorra was still a virgin…or anything about his sexual life at all. Though she quickly dismissed the thought, being that it was very embarrassing to think of him in such a manner.

'_But what could it be…?'_ she wondered, trying to think of what kind of problem Ulquiorra might have. Once again, her mind thought of a sexual issue, but once again, she put it out of her mind. Or at least tried to.

"So…um, what do you need help with?" she asked tentatively.

"Well…I have this problem…you see…" he said, and the way he said it, added on with what she _thought_ was a faint blush, made her think of a whole slew of sexual issues.

'_Is it problems in bed or his pants? Is he trying to tell me he's bisexual, or homosexual? Is someone harassing him for sex? Did he get raped? Ugh, what the hell could it be!?'_ she thought angrily. Whatever it was, it had to be something really horrible. One of her first thoughts was rape…but who would want to/be able to rape Ulquiorra? He was strong as hell, and whoever had raped him would have to be stronger…unless they gave him a drug of some sort, or used something. Wait! Maybe it was an STD!

"Okay…is it….an STD?" she asked, and wished she hadn't but it was the only thing on her mind.

"W-Wha-What?" he stuttered, eyes widening in horror and shock.

"No, it's not sexual! I was just having trouble cleaning out my ear because my helmet is in the way." he said quickly.

"…Oh." why did she sound disappointed? It wasn't like she had _wanted_ it to be sexual, right? She just then realized how trivial it was, the thing that he had asked for help with, and stifled a laugh.

"Oh…okay." she giggled. Ulquiorra gave her a bland look, before holding out a Q-tip. She took it, and grabbed the horn on his broken helmet, pulling his head down so she could get a look inside his ear. She titled his head to an odd angle, and wrinkled her nose at the sight of the interior of his ear.

"Damn Ulquiorra! How long has it been since you last cleaned out your ears?" she asked, as she swabbed the inside of his ear carefully. To Ulquiorra, it felt very good to have his ear cleaned out, and unconsciously rubbed against Kendai's chest.

"Wait, h-hold-still-Ulquiorra." she said through her gritted teeth, partly because he wouldn't stop rubbing up against her, and partly because of the nasty Q-tip. She made a face and held it delicately, making a face at all the gunk stuck on both ends. She handed it to Ulquiorra.

"Here, happy birthday." she said sarcastically, but her sarcasm was wasted on him.

"…It's not my birthday." he said monotonously, before throwing the Q-tip over his shoulder carelessly. It landed in the mouth of a very unfortunate Barragan, who had been yawning. He choked and gagged, spitting it out. It appeared as if…some of…the gunk…had come off in his mouth.

"Oh god, that was so nasty! Ew!" Kendai said as she flinched away from the sight. Any moment now, the older arrancar would probably start throwing up, though she couldn't blame him. How horrible it must've been, to have nearly a hundred years worth of ear wax on one Q-tip go into your mouth. She winced even more when she heard the sound of vomiting.

And from that day on, a new rule was decreed in Las Noches. Ulquiorra must clean BOTH years out weekly, and burn the Q-tips to ashes once he finishes with them.


	13. Chappy 13

Disclaimer:

I don't own Bleach *sigh*

**AN:** Just to let you all know, I pretty much forgot everything about Ichigo's Shattered Shaft Training, except for the part where Urru is chasing him around…haha, but anyway I'm doing this based purely off of memory, a memory of something I saw over a year ago, so lease don't put in a review after you've read this chappy something like 'that's not how it goes' or 'you got it all wrong' because I'm somewhat confident that this was SOMETHING like how things went, but I could be wrong. But please don't make a big deal about it because this is just a small portion of the chappy/story. And some things were changed purposely.

Rukia looked around as Tessai jumped down next to her Urahara was already preparing some kind of training for her that would help get her powers back in a little under an hour or so. She was curious as to what the training might be, but she didn't like the looks of it so far. Kisuke was standing by a deep looking pit and talking to Jinta and Urru. They kept glancing at her, which made her uncomfortable. So, to distract herself, Rukia admired the training ground instead. It was had a fake sky for a ceiling, but to her it looked pretty real. There were random rock outcroppings, and overall it looked like it had been used more than once. (**AN: **basically a copy of what Kisuke had under his store)

* * *

"Um…so this training…" Rukia began, but Tessai merely hoisted her up by the waist "H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" she demanded, pounding on his broad, muscular back. He ignored her protests, and started to walk over to the pit. The feeling of badness from before doubled.

"W-Wait! You're not going to throw me down there, are you?" she asked nervously, but Tessai showed no signs of hearing her at all. Once they reached the edge of the pit, he stopped.

"Good, good. Now that the both of you are here, we can start the training, but I'm assuming that Rukia wants me to explain it first." Kisuke said in a too-happy-voice "Well, the way this works is we throw you down into the pit and you've just got to get back up before your time runs out. Simple as that."

"Kisuke…" she growled. She knew that nothing was simple when it came to this man.

"Oh, well we'll be cutting your soul chain, so if you don't get out of the pit before your time runs out…then you turn into a hollow. And if you do, your father will make sure all of us die slow painful deaths for doing this Rukia, so please don't turn into a full hollow." Kisuke said, but begged at the last part. He didn't want to ever have to face the wrath of a maternal, overprotective, angry Aizen.

"But why can't you just let me turn into a hollow and then use the Hogyoku to turn me into an arrancar?" Rukia asked

"Because, first we would need to get the Hogyoku from you father, and secondly…if you became an arrancar, you'd be stuck that way for the rest of your life. I doubt you want that." Kisuke sighed

"No, you're right." she said without thinking, but it was probably true. She wouldn't want to spend the rest of her life, or afterlife, as an arrancar.

"Okay then! Let's get started with your training!" Kisuke said, and with that he pulled out his zanpakuto.

"Kisuke…if you so much as-" Rukia never got a chance to finish her threat because Tessai tossed her up in the air above the pit. As she fell, her eyes saw a metallic flash, and she felt a deep pain in her chest. That pain intensified once she landed on her butt.

"Ow…" she rubbed her sore bottom, wishing that Tessai hadn't thrown her up so high. She looked down at the white hospital robe which was stained with blood in the center. Coming out of her chest was a chain which was…eating itself.

"What?!" her eyes widened in horror at the sight. She had no idea what she could do to stop this.

"Oi Rukia! You better hurry up before time runs out!" Kisuke called down from the top, causing Rukia to panic even more. She ran at the dirt wall, trying as hard as she could to push against gravity. If she had her powers she could've just flown out, but if she had her powers and that damned fox faced bitch hadn't struck her there, she wouldn't be in this mess.

"AAAHHH!!!" Rukia yelped as she fell back down, feeling the push of gravity weigh down upon her as she landed hard on her back. Wincing, Rukia got back to her feet. That was when she realized something. Her arms were bound. She had no idea how she couldn't have noticed before, but that was what was keeping her from reaching the top. Coupled with gravity and the sudden loss of two very important limbs, her balance had been thrown off dramatically. With her arms like this, she wouldn't stand a chance of getting out of here before her chain ate itself. Rukia vainly tried to run up the wall again, but it was useless. She fell to the ground again.

"Damn…" she looked down at her chain. It was gone. That was when she sat up a little bit, and saw that it was still there, but the last two links were gobbling each other up.

"No! Damnit stop!" she cried out in desperation, but the hungry links didn't listen to her. How many times had she seen this happen to some poor unfortunate soul? How many times as a shinigami had she witnessed this event? When the last link dissolved into nothingness, her head straightened up as if it were attached to strings. She fell to her knees and her mouth opened in a silent scream as white foam poured out. It came from her ears, her eyes, her mouth, her nose…and the worst part was the burning. The sensation of fire licking her entire face as if the foam was white fire…

"The mask is forming first. It's rare, but it usually shows a sign of resistance." Kisuke observed, but then shook his head and sighed "Go ahead and do it, Tessai."

"Right. Second Song: Hundred Linked Bolts." he had been able to skip the first part of the incantation, but the spell got more complex, and even he had to use the incantation at this point. White spiritual fabric enveloped Rukia, which was followed by large iron bolts that pierced the fabric.

"Well, looks like its time…" Tessai muttered as he prepared to invoke the last part of the spell.

Rukia was falling. She was falling into an endless black void, a whirling maw of nothingness just waiting to swallow her whole. The usually peaceful snowy, nighttime palace and city before it had been destroyed. Her inner world had been shaken to pieces. Next to her, Sode no Shirayuki appeared, calm as ever.

"What do I do?!" she shouted, but it wasn't necessary. Her zanpakuto could hear her fine.

"You must find your powers before you fall into the hollow void." as the snow zanpakuto spoke, countless giant white snowflakes swirled around them Rukia felt like she was in a snow globe.

"But how?!"

"That is for you to figure out." her zanpakuto replied, calm as ever. Rukia closed her eyes shut. She thought of Ichigo, of her sister, of Renji and everyone else who was or had been close to her. She thought of Kaien.

'_Don't die without your friends, Rukia. Don't die alone.'_

Rukia reached out with her hand, feeling towards the source of the voice as she freefell into nothingness. From one of the snow flakes, a beautiful blue ribbon sprouted from the tip. Cold, strong power surged through it, and flowed into her body as she grasped it in her right hand.

Rukia smiled as she fell into the abyss.

"Final Song: Great Seal of 10,000 Forbiddings!" Tessai chanted and a huge metal cube made from reiatsu plummeted down into the pit. Just as it was twenty feet down, a light from the bottom of the pit shone intensely before shooting up like a Shiba firework.

"W-Woah!" Tessai was thrown head over heels and knocked back into a rock quite painfully "Ouch…" he said weakly, wincing and twitching as his glasses which had been knocked askew poked into his face. The light landed on the edge of the pit, revealing a black clad figure with some white spiritual fabric and an iron bolt clinging to its shoulder. The figure was small, had black hair, and was wearing a white wolf-like mask with deep blue lines etched around the mouth in the shape of fangs, giving it the appearance of a snarling beast.

"Is it a hollow…or a shinigami?" Jinta breathed, holding his bat aloft in case the thing that had once been Rukia attacked. Urru held her broom defensively, but Kisuke just grinned. Then he started to clap.

"Well done Rukia, well done! You now have your powers as a shinigami back." he called out as the fierce looking mask fell off her face and shattered into a million pieces as soon as it touched the ground. She frowned at him, drawing her dark eyebrows together slightly.

"Easy for you to say, Kisuke. You weren't the one in that pit…but I guess I should thank you for helping me regain my powers." she sighed after patting her zanpakuto. The weight of the sheathed katana felt comforting, reassuring, especially now and after all she had just gone through.

"Well, you can rest now since that must've been tiring, but after that we start training. But before you take a nap, there's someone I want you to talk to." Kisuke said as he hid part of his face behind his fan so that only his eyes were visible.

* * *

"_How pathetic. You're just a hollow relying on its instincts and nothing more." the blind shinigami said. Ichigo got up again, snarling. He swung his sword down as hard as he could, but the shinigami blocked it calmly, not even flinching when faced with such a vicious opponent._

"_If you cannot learn self-control and master yourself, then you will never rise above the level of a Gillian class Menos." he said quietly, but loud enough for Ichigo to hear him._

"_Shutup! I don't care what the hell you think!" he growled, before rushing at him again, and bringing his blade down once more. He kept slashing and stabbing at the wretched shinigami, but it was completely useless._

"_Your movements and actions are like that of an animal. You're far too predictable, and you rely heavily on your instincts to guide you in battle." Tosen said as he cut Ichigo's shoulder. The blade penetrated his hierro._

"_So what?" he snarled, getting angrier and angrier by the second like a caged beast._

"_Observe Ulquiorra. He is a hollow as well, yet he fights with reason and purpose. He can think of a plan to defeat his opponent. He can sense weakness. He can plan his next attack and figure out things that someone with no sense of mind would never be able to accomplish. Because of your mindless style of fighting, you know nothing but bloodlust. That will be your downfall." as he spoke, the number of cuts Ichigo obtained increased. His regeneration couldn't keep up, and soon he was on one knee, panting and trying to raise his blade._

"_Like I said, your pathetic." the shinigami spat before stabbing Ichigo's shoulder, thrusting the blade in without mercy, and then withdrawing it, creating a small fountain of blood._

Ichigo's fists clenched at the memory of that fight. Before that, he had almost never lost a fight. As far as he could remember, only Tatsuki had beat him in a fight, and years later he finally surpassed her before leaving the dojo they went to together as kids.

If only he knew how to release his zanpakuto…even though he talked to Zangetsu, his blade had never told him anything other than his name. That, and Ichigo had no idea how an arrancar was even supposed to release their zanpakuto. He couldn't just rely on his instincts this time. He'd have to learn it from someone else.

"Ichigo?" the arrancar had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he barely noticed the voice behind him. He turned to see Rukia standing a few feet away, wearing her shinigami attire.

"Rukia, you-"

"Kisuke helped me get my powers back. He asked me to come see you before…well, before I go back to bed." she said. Ichigo stared at her for a few moments.

"You should already be in bed." he frowned at her. Rukia shook her head.

"Did Kisuke…tell you about…?" Rukia trailed off

"Tell me about what?" Ichigo asked

"Did he tell you about the plan to go to Soul Society and rescue Ulquiorra?" she finally blurted out. Rukia covered her mouth and looked around. Thankfully, it was just her and Ichigo.

"Oh yeah, he did." Ichigo said flatly. Rukia looked at him a bit more closely.

"What's wrong?" she asked

"…I was just thinking about when I fought that shinigami…what he said…"

"Okay, and what did he say?"

"Well…Rukia, you don't think I rely on my instincts in battle too much, do you?" he asked uncertainly. Rukia didn't understand what this had to do with what Tosen said to Ichigo, but she could tell from the tone of his voice that it bothered him very deeply.

"Um…" she thought back to all the times she ever watched him fight. It was kind of true to say that he relied on his hollow instincts in battle a lot. Rukia had never really watched any other arrancar fight, but the way Ichigo hardly drew his sword and fought with his bare hands reminded her more of a hollow. That and just his overall style of fighting. It wasn't random…but there was something to it that gave away deep traces of a hollow.

"Sort of." she said, being honest "Why?"

"It's just that…"

_THWAP_

"Ah! God, what the hell was that for!?" Ichigo shouted as he rubbed his sore head. He hoped a lump wasn't forming from the hit received, courtesy of Rukia and that damned sketch book she carried everywhere.

"Stop beating around the bush and spit it out! And stop being depressed! I know you lost, but so what? So what if you rely on your instincts in battle? If you want to change that, then get stronger! If you're afraid of failing, or afraid of losing again, then nothing will ever change!" she yelled at him, and hit him with the sketch book again. She was tired of his emoness.

"Where's your resolve?" she asked angrily, grabbing the collar of his jacket and brining him down to her eye level. They were very, very close.

"I you don't have what it takes, if you don't have the resolve, if you're afraid of failing so much that you don't even want to try then don't come to Soul Society. I'll go alone with Kendai if I have to." she huffed, before turning on her heel and walking away. Ichigo looked at her retreating figure in shock. It took him a few minutes for her words to finally sink in to the point where they actually had an effect on him. Sighing, Ichigo ran one hand through his spiky orange hair before walking away from the spot he had been rooted to for so long. He needed to find Grimmjow.

* * *

'_It was you who gave me this power.'_

"_Come with me hollow. If you follow me, I'll give you greater power." she promised. He remembered following her to that lonely white place, which had once been ruins but now it truly looked like a palace. He remembered following her past odd looking hollow creatures. They resembled humans, or no, shinigami. How ridiculous. He followed her into a darkened room, and when the doors closed, she turned to face him. She invoked an incantation, some sort of spell that he had see shinigami use before. He could tell she was shinigami from the first time they met in the white sands, but curiosity kept him from killing her. He was only curious._

_His mummified figure tumbled down the steps until it stopped. He could feel a powerful reiatsu coming from someone or something nearby. The reiatsu increased until it became a searing hot flame of energy, licking at his soul. He wanted to scream in agony but his mouth was closed. Everything around him was completely white. His soul was breaking down, morphing, changing, being recreated and finally he was one again._

"_What do you desire?" a voice asked. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, hollow or human, old or young, or anything else about it. It was just a voice. He couldn't answer, but the sound seemed to know what he wanted already. The light gradually faded away, and as it did, his mask started to chip and break. He felt a warm, gentle hand on his bare face, sweeping aside the last bits of shattered mask. The shinigami studied him closely._

"_What's your name, hollow?" she asked quietly. He shivered in response. The air was cold. This new body of his didn't have the same sort of skin or armor plating like before. He still had hierro, but the skin itself seemed so thin, like a human's or shinigami's. Something wrapped itself around him. It was some sort of soft material, and it was warm. He looked up at the shinigami, who had discarded her jacket and given it to him. Underneath the jacket, she wore a black top with sleeves so short that they were just thick straps._

"…" _he could not from any words. Before, he never talked. He only howled if he was in pain or snarled when he was hungry. He made animalistic sounds, but never spoke a word. He tried opening his mouth to copy to sounds the shinigami was making, but he couldn't do it. He could understand her…but he just couldn't speak._

"_You don't have a name? Hm…you're a bit funny looking, you know that? Almost like a clown…no…that wouldn't be a good name. Though…my father once told me something. He taught me a bit of Spanish, and I learned the words 'El que llora'. It means 'he who cries' in Spanish, but it's a bit of a mouth full, so why don't we just make it Ulquiorra? That's a good name, isn't it?" _

_He, Ulquiorra, clung to that word. He repeated it, and the shinigami smiled, nodding. _

"_Let's get you some clothes, and then some food. After that I'll find you a room and you'll be given your number."_

'_And it was you who gave me this name. Ulquiorra. That is my name. You gave me something to cling to; you gave me something to look forward to. You gave me something that was worthwhile, something that wasn't just trash like just about everything else in that white fortress. You gave me something, but I never got the chance to thank you for it. There's so much more…so much that I never thanked you for.'_

Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he bowed his head slightly, thinking of Kendai. He opened his eyes slightly when he heard someone cough. He looked up from his lap and saw a nervous looking dark haired shinigami. The shinigami had some sort of sack on its back, held in place with a string and a strip of green material.

"Um…I…um…I have to…uh…come in and sweep. Is that okay?" he asked, and Ulquiorra saw that the shinigami was holding a broom. He nodded, and the wooden door of the cell opened up. For a moment Ulquiorra wondered why he had been placed in the thirteenth division holding cell instead of the white tower where prisoners slated for execution by Sogyoku were kept. The captain of this squad had already tried talking to him-about Kendai and Rukia. But Ulquiorra hadn't said word. He had been silent since arriving in Soul Society.

There was no chance of the shinigami getting even a word out of him about Kendai and her sister. They could torture him, threaten him, do anything, but he would not betray Kendai. No matter what.

As he stared at his folded hands resting on white clad lap, his usual clothes having been replaced by a white prisoners robe, he silently tried to think of ways to escape. Glancing at the restrictive cuffs which bound his hands and feet, and the chain holding him to the chair he was sitting in, Ulquiorra couldn't think of any ideas.

* * *

"So…uh…Ichigo what's up?" Grimmjow asked sullenly, seemingly moping. Ichigo frowned at him, but then breathed deeply and exhaled before speaking.

"I want you to teach me how to release my zanpakuto." he said, causing Grimmjow to look at him, mildly surprised.

"You mean your Resurrección?"

"Yeah, that." Ichigo nodded. Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at his request before closing his eyes and shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't." the blue haired arrancar said simply, causing the other arrancar's eyes to widen.

"But why?!"

"You're Resurreccion is something that you're just gonna have to learn on your own. Even shinigami can't be 'taught' to use their shikai. It's really something natural-something that can't be learned or taught, just something that'll come to you…I guess."

"You 'guess'?"

"Well, I was able to use my Resurreccion a few days after becoming an arrancar…it just came to me." Grimmjow shrugged again. Ichigo looked at him, dismayed to hear the arrancar's answer. Disappointed and not knowing what to do, he hunched his shoulders and stared down at his feet. Grimmjow glanced over at him questioningly, almost feeling concerned.

"What's got you moping all of a sudden?"

"Well…with invading Soul Society…I mean I just thought that if I could learn Ressurecion before we left…seeing as how I couldn't even defeat Tosen…" he grit his teeth at the humiliating memory of losing to a blind shinigami.

"Lost to Tosen eh? Hmph…well, he is…or was…whichever, it doesn't matter really, but he used to be a captain before defecting from Soul Society. I hated his guts…but after all, you really don't know too much, since you've only been an arrancar for a few months, and you weren't a hollow before then. Besides, once we get to Soul Society, you'll have your friends 'n stuff to cover your back and you might even get a little stronger from roughing up a few shinigami." Grimmjow gave him a feral grin, enjoying the idea of beating up a bunch of shinigami.

"Eh? Well…" Ichigo trailed off hesitantly, but then looked back at the Sexta Espada "What's with you all of a sudden? When I first came here you seemed kinda glum but now you've cheered up…" Ichigo narrowed his eyes at Grimmjow "You seemed to cheer up right after that part about beating up the shinigami."

"So what? The idea itself is great, and doing it will be even better. I'm sure we should get at least one or two good fights from those pathetic shinigami." Grimmjow savored the idea of being able to get a few shinigami, maybe even clash swords with some of the stronger ones.

"…" Ichigo had suspected that the hollows held grudges against shinigami, but he was surprised by how they let themselves be lead by one, and how Grimmjow and Ulquiorra seemed so devoted to Kendai, who was also a shinigami.

'_But then again, me and Rukia are pretty close so…'_ Ichigo smiled a little as he thought of the dark haired shinigami with eyes that turned blue, violet, and gray depending on the lighting sometimes. Though despite noticed how Grimmjow's attitude towards shinigami seemed to contradict his words, he didn't say anything about it.

"Well…I guess there's not anything you could teach me then, is there?" Ichigo questioned. Grimmjow shrugged.

"I could train with ya, but first I should-" the Espada smirked evilly, "evaluate you." and cracked his knuckles. Ichigo swallowed, smiling back nervously.

"Well, actually, I'm sure Kisuke could…uh…help!" the orange haired arrancar turned around quickly to run away, only to be caught by the collar of his jacket and dragged down the hall by Grimmjow who now had a maniac grin plastered on his face to match his equally joyful and insane laughter.

"Ah c'mon! What's that _shinigami_ gonna do that I can't!" Grimmjow grinned over his shoulder at Ichigo, glancing back at the helpless arrancar.

"C'mon, I'll show what a _real_ arrancar can do!"

'_Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be painful?'_ Ichigo thought desperately as he was dragged down the hall and out of sight.

**Somewhere in Las Noches, in the East Sector…**

"Kendai, you can't mope here forever." Szayel said as he walked past the curled up shinigami "I mean, you're going to be saving him after all! Nothing more romantic that a dramatic and desperate rescue to save someone whom you hold so dear to you!" Szayel added a bit of dramatic flare to the end of his sentence. He glanced at the shinigami who was curled up, with her legs folded up to her chest, her face planted in the folds of her hakama, and her arms wrapped around her knees, effectively assuming something remnant of a fetal position.

Szayel sighed, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips delicately. He walked back over to Kendai and managed to wriggled his hand under her chin and pried her face out of her hakama. Her face was dry, her eyes clear thought barely tinted with salmon pink around the edges, the swelling of tears having been gone long ago.

"This isn't and wasn't a complete loss. Even though _I know_ you want to bust into Soul Society right now, _at this very moment_, just remember that you _will_ need backup, and despite how long it seems, this is a very short-too short- period for everyone going to train and get ready. But so far they haven't even begun to plan Ulquiorra's execution, if their even going to have one, so from now to three days later, you'll still have plenty of time to rescue him." Szayel soothed. Kendai didn't even nod, but kept her usually bright green eyes downcast, darkened with the weight and tension of what was happening.

"So just _try_ to smile and bear with for now, honey." Szayel patted her head, and then walked back to what he was working on before, though he glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kendai standing in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I'm not saving Ulquiorra out of 'romantic interest' or whatever." she said simply before leaving. Szayel turned back to his work smirking, with one thought in mind.

'_And just how much longer are you going to keep telling that little lie to yourself, Kendai?'_

* * *

Gah! I'm done at last! Well, not with the story at least, hehe. Still got a long ways to go *sigh* but sorry for not updating in SOOOOO long, like nearly a year? Idk, but watev. I stopped and pikd up a lot on this chappy, and when I was writing the last part, the tv in the wifi area was SO loud and SO annoying I could barely even hear myself speak _ yeah, the stupid commercials were on that are always louder than the show, but it was stupid since I wasn't even watching it…oh wells, I probably have some important things to say, but cannot think of them at this moment! isn't that wonderful!? lol. btw idk if the text breaks r where they shuld b so...yeah. okay, okay, enough distracting you guys with my gibberish and half-correctly-half-half-texting typed words and moving onto the…uh…ending…thingy….yeah. btw, I'll try to update REAL soon, but I've got S2 finals looming ahead of me and a monstours…monterous…mon…mounsters…monster-us…cant spel damit! anyway, ive got a lot of skool work 2 do, incudling…INCLUDING my Japanese finaland-FINAL- and the packet my sensei gave me to study for it. so yeah, that and I've got to try to update on some of my other stories too…at least A Second Chance, which is another Ulqui sentered-CENTERED!- fic that I suggest you read…so yeah. and now, on2 the thingy-thinng! …oh, I already now whose going 2 not-do-so-wel on the English final… T_T

* * *

Grimmjow howled in rage, and bucked under Kendai's grip as she tried to force him into submission. Ulquiorra was right by her, also try to tame his fellow Espada, but even though they were both stronger than the blue haired arrancar, neither of them wanted to hurt him.

"NNOOO!!! YOU SICK, EVIL…AAAHHH!!!" Grimmjow cursed aloud as he struggled underneath them, desperate to get away.

"I WON'T!!!" he screamed, arching his back as Ulquiorra jostled him, nearly throwing off the skimpy bit of clothing he was wearing, if what he still had on could even be called that. Kendai helped Ulquiorra get Grimmjow back into the correct position, and they resumed their struggled against Grimmjow.

With a final push, they were able to accomplish their goal. Only after a few seconds, Grimmjow struggled to get up, clawing at empty air as shock coursed through his system. Both Kendai and Ulquiorra sleeves were rolled up, and both had a light sheen of sweat after continuously struggling with a stubborn Grimmjow. Kendai was already wet and not enjoying herself too much as Grimmjow pushed against her. More struggling noises came from Kendai and Ulquiorra, and mores curses from Grimmjow as he tried to break their firm grip.

But suddenly the door flew open, surprising Kendai and Ulquiorra enough to allow their grip to slacken, letting Grimmjow break free. He raced past them and hid in a corner in the adjoining room, glaring at his two former tormenters.

Standing in or by the doorway was Nnoitra, Szayel, Nel, Halibel, Barragan, Stark, and every other Espada, staring at them in shock.

"What the hell were you _doing_ in there?!" Nnoitra demanded, causing a wet Kendai to glare at him.

"What do you think?! We're in the bathroom, with a full tub of water, _trying _to give Grimmjow a bath, until _you_ all came along!" she snarled as she took off her white arrancar jacket which was thoroughly drenched after Grimmjow had made a titanic splash in his split-second-long escape. Some of the guys looked at her hopefully, but she pulled off the jacket to reveal a black tank top, disappointing them.

Ulquiorra was just as drenched as Kendai, and not looking too happy about it. Then again, he never looked happy about anything at all.

"Oh, so _that's_ what was going on in here. But then…why were you trying to give Grimmjow a bath?" Szayel asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"Because Aizen-sama has developed cat allergies due to Grimmjow not taking a proper bath for several years." Ulquiorra explained, looking past the Espada to glimpse Grimmjow huddled in the corner of the other room, his towel (thankfully) still wrapped around his waist, but he too was soaking wet like Ulquiorra and Kendai.

"Oh…so that's all that was going on in here." Nnoitra sighed, walking away in lack of interest. The other Espada turned away and left as well, and Grimmjow escaped into the halls and into his room to dry and then take a catnap.

Kendai sighed and looked over at her subordinate, suddenly smirking.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked uneasily, not liking the look Kendai was giving him.

"You're wet." she stated.

"So are you…" he trailed off, and then caught the perverted reference. He opened his mouth to tell her what a perv she was but a camera seemed to magically appear in her hands, and she began taking pictures. Worst of all, it was the waterproof kind.

"What are you…?"

**Weeks later, Ulquiorra got his answer…**

Ulquiorra stared at the cover of _Las Noches Monthly_. Plastered on the front cover was a picture of him soaking wet, as well as a towel-clad Grimmjow and several other photos of male arrancar who were mostly scantily-clad. The article to go with the photos contained a small caption underneath that read 'Courtesy of the Arrancar's Women's Association'. Ulquiorra stared at it for a moment before tossing it into a trash bin nearby. But as he began to walk away, Grimmjow came running up to him, pale and scared looking.

"Ulquiorra, have you see this!?" he shoved the LA Monthly in front of Ulquiorra's face. Ulquiorra merely nodded, maintaining his stoic…ness…

"No, but have you seen THIS???" Grimmjow flipped open to a certain page in the magazine, to reveal several photos of a more graphic and serious nature. One of them was of Ulquiorra in his Ressurecion form, but the person who had been taking the photo must've somehow snuck under him without his noticing, and taken a picture when the wind blew a little. And worst of all…it was a flash photo.

"…" Ulquiorra tore the magazine out of Grimmjow's grip and flipped through the various pages, only to find more pictures just like it, including pictures of other male arrancar, including Grimmjow. All were labeled 'Courtesy of the AWA' and one page even advertised a calendar being sold by the AWA, promising new photos of a similar nature to the ones being showed, and saying that they would be put in the calendar.

"What the hell?!" Ulquiorra nearly screamed as he came to the fourth photo of himself, and this time he was in the shower.

**Elsewhere in Las Noches…**

"Wow, we made a lot selling all those pictures to LA Weekly!" Nel exclaimed happily as she counted the AWA's funds with Halibel. The blond Espada nodded, and glanced at Kendai who was laughing with her Sunsun, Mila Rose, and Apache as they looked through some of the photos taken by AWA members.

"I like these." Kendai held onto every picture of Ulquiorra that she could find, while Apache gripped a few Grimmjow pictures, and Sunsun grabbed a picture of Tesla in the shower. Mila Rose picked a few random ones, liking all of them.

"They seem to be enjoying themselves." Halibel noted.

"Well of course! Speaking of which, we should do this again!" Nel said happily, but Halibel seriously doubted that it would be so easy top snap such graphic photos of the male arrancar after they had seen the newest addition of LA Weekly.

**AN:** yeah…couldn't think of anything better, and btw I don't care how I spell the names, because I prefer the old spelling. hope u enjoyed this anyway, and **WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T FORGET TO PUSH THAT REVIEW BUTTON!!!! and thanx for all the reviews so far ;D**


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